May alfalfa hay exports topped 212,200 metric tons, about 20,000 metric tons more than April and 40,000 metric tons more than May 2015 (Table 1).

Natzke dave
Dave Natzke
Editor / Progressive Dairy

natzke hayreport tbl1

Chinese alfalfa hay shipments totaled 88,798 metric tons in May (Table 2), down slightly. Increased shipments to the Middle East and Japan offset that decline.

natzke hayreport tbl2

The increases to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia come with a bit of an asterisk, according to Christy Mastin, international sales manager with Eckenberg Farms Inc., Mattawa, Washington.

“This is the alfalfa production from farm ground that was purchased earlier this year, mostly in the southwest U.S., by companies from these countries for the purpose of exporting the hay,” she said.

The increased volume in May 2016 is also supported by a price drop of $40 per metric ton from 2015 to 2016, Mastin said.

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Combined with the higher volume, total alfalfa export values were up more than $4 million from the month before, to $63.5 million.

May exports of other hay increased slightly. Shipments of alfalfa cubes and alfalfa meal were mixed.

The May hay export totals reflect a continued strong start to 2016, despite the challenges posed by currency exchange rates, according to the latest Northwest Farm Credit Service hay market snapshot report.

Through the first part of 2016, shipments to the UAE, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and China were up, but shipments to South Korea and Japan, more traditional markets, were down.

However, in the last six months the Japanese yen has gained 20 percent against the dollar, strengthening Japanese buying power. Headwinds include relatively inexpensive Australian and Canadian dollars.

U.S. ag trade turns in third straight monthly deficit

Overall U.S. agricultural trade turned in a third consecutive monthly deficit in May, the first time that’s happened in at least four decades. Available USDA estimates go back until late 1975.

May U.S. ag exports were valued at $9.777 billion up slightly from April, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce Census Bureau. U.S. agricultural imports were also down slightly, at $9.865 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of about $88.7 million.

Year-to-date fiscal year 2016 (October 2015-May 2016) exports stand at $86.7 billion, with imports at $76.7 billion, yielding a $10 billion ag trade surplus. end mark

Dave Natzke