USDA Resuming Foreign Trade Missions for Ag Exporters
The USDA is planning several in-person foreign trade missions this year, which were halted during the COVID-19 pandemic, in an effort to better connect U.S. agricultural exporters with overseas buyers, said Daniel Whitley, administrator for the agency’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Although the agency hasn’t yet officially confirmed which countries, Whitley said there is strong interest for Southeast Asia, Africa and potentially the U.K. and Kenya as the U.S. negotiates a trade deal with both those nations (see 2201180067).
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“We're actually finalizing the ink on the paper right now for the rest of the year,” Whitley said during a Feb. 17 call with reporters, adding that he hopes to release the list of countries this week. “We are absolutely looking to hold more in person trade missions around the world.”
Whitley was speaking from Dubai as part of the USDA’s first in-person trade mission in nearly two years (see 2110250038), where he said exporters were seeing strong demand from importers across the Middle East region. Buyers were particularly interested in U.S. nuts, Whitley said, adding that one Georgia exporter secured a multiyear, multimillion dollar trade deal for their product earlier in the day.
“The enthusiasm we've seen here basically has shown to me that there's a lot of pent-up demand for American agriculture,” Whitley said. “The turnout has been enormous.”
He said demand in the region for U.S. almonds is increasing, as is interest in U.S. meat and grain products, including beef, poultry, wheat and soybeans. “We're excited that there's interest in a broad range of products and that American agriculture can be very successful not just in the UAE, but in the region as a whole,” Whitley said. “You could just sense the general relief that they're back meeting with American companies in person. So we hope to replicate this several more times this year and see the same level of success.”
The International Trade Administration also recently announced a trade mission in early March to the United Arab Emirates.