Strong U.S. Dollar Creating Challenges for International Customers Wanting to Buy American Commodities

Strong U.S. Dollar Creating Challenges for International Customers Wanting to Buy American Commodities

Russell Nemetz
Russell Nemetz
Export markets are vitally important to America’s farmers. And this is especially true for pulse growers. However, Russia’s war on Ukraine has caused a lot of foreign currencies to weaken.

As Columbia Grain International CEO Jeff Van Pevenage explains it's making it hard for international customers to afford pulses like lentils, dry beans and chickpeas.

"Since the Ukraine Russian war began, the dollar is appreciated across the globe," said Van Pevenage. "So, buyers take Europe as, for instance, today it's trading for 102 versus the dollar, where it was trading 119 prior to the war, they just lost 17% of their buying power for our products. Pakistan, a big buyer for chickpeas from the United States, has also lost approximately 17% of their buying power in in US dollars. Take a look at Columbia. Major buyer for lentils in the United States. They've lost 10% of their buying power there. And as we listen to buyers over the last two months talk about let's get some new crop bought, but all they can talk about is the way their currency is behaving and they cannot afford to pay the prices that we're asking to sell down their."

In the meantime, to help farmers manage their price risk and take advantage of market upswings, Columbia Grain encourages growers to check out their new Producer Solutions which offers up-to-date targeted marketing insights and education producers need to gain the competitive advantage.

Check it out at www.columbiagrain.com.

Source: Ag Information Network and Western Ag Network

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