-August 15,2019-
Trump comment on wheat exports to Japan -“not fake news”
From Politico
They send us … millions of cars, we send them wheat. Wheat. That’s not a good deal,” Trump said. “And they don’t even want our wheat. They do it because they want us to at least feel that we’re OK, you know, they do it to make us feel good.”
The National Association of Wheat Growers on Wednesday rebuked Trump for the slight. “They don’t buy our wheat because ‘they want us to feel okay.’ They buy it because it’s the highest quality wheat in the world. That’s not fake news,” NAWG tweeted.
Big picture: Ag trade with Japan has been a sensitive topic recently as U.S. exporters watch competitors like Canada take over market share since the new 11-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership took effect. Trump, who withdrew from the original TPP shortly after his inauguration, is now seeking a mini-trade deal with Tokyo focused on farm goods and autos. Japan has been the top market for U.S. wheat exports.
Ethanol futures bite
Ethanol futures prices are trading at five-year lows after the EPA granted exemptions to oil refiners from blending requirements. The Energy Information Administration on Wednesday projected that ethanol stockpiles are 4 percent higher than at this point last year.
The low prices are hurting corn growers and ethanol producers.
20% bigger apple crop as trade war hurts
from FreightWaves
Washington state’s 2019 apple harvest officially kicks off September 1 with a crop that is expected to be 20 percent larger than last year, but the increase in volume poses problems for farmers facing shrinking markets due to trade disputes.
“It will be a challenge on the export front,” said Mark Powers, president of the Northwest Horticultural Council, a trade association based in Yakima, Washington.
China slapped a 50 percent tariff on U.S. apples in 2018, reducing state shipments to that country by 20 percent. The levy is likely to be even more damaging in the 2019-2020 season, “when we anticipate a larger crop than last year and need to move more volume overseas,” Powers said.
Washington is by far the country’s top apple producer. Around 58 percent of apples produced in the United States are grown in Washington, followed by New York, which grows 11 percent of the total, and Michigan, where 8 percent of U.S. apples are grown.
This year’s Washington fresh apple crop is estimated at 137.3 million 40-pound boxes, up from around 116 million in 2018.