The American Peanut Council serves to promote peanuts abroad for American peanut farmers.
They do pay membership through the American Peanut Council, which also gets some special grant money through the Market Access Program from USDA. A rigorous selection process has been underway for them to pick out some new markets to expand excess of export of peanuts. They recently assessed the market of Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
The key findings in those markets they said that peanuts are the most popular nut across the three countries. They consume mostly as snacks by all income levels and generations. Consumers in all markets there are price-sensitive and generally perceive peanuts as a low-value product.
Philippine customers show the greatest awareness and the preference for USA peanuts. The main constraint on U.S. exports is price competition with China and with India. The U.S. peanuts face import duties as well of 5% in Malaysia and 15% going into the Philippines.
So the American Peanut Council is making an effort to find new markets. When we produced a good crop last year, now we’re in the preparation of planting a new crop.
Audio Reporting by Tyron Spearman for Southeast AgNet.