Well about 20% of the peanut crop produced in the United States is exported.
Let’s check the numbers on that. For December 2005 to December 2004 compared, the U.S. exported 34,586 metric tons, a surprising increase of 2%. The increase is driven by a continuous strong export to Mexico, which was up 32%.
All other major markets were down, with Canada down 8%, China was down 3%, European Union down 39%, Japan was down 16%, and the United Kingdom down 65%. Somebody’s got to visit the United Kingdom and see what’s wrong with that market. August through December, and look at the six-month period, 162,773 metric tons were exported from America, and that is a decrease of 16% compared to the same period last year.
Mexico is the only country that was up with an increase of 35%. Otherwise, Canada was down 12%, China down 76%, European Union down 46%, the UK down 38%, and Japan down 2%. So the export market needs a boost.
They need more peanuts, and we hope we can deliver them from this next crop.
Audio Reporting by Tyron Spearman for Southeast AgNet.