Browse Data and Analysis

A number of factors have converged over the last 18 months to send global agricultural commodity prices to near-record levels. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and the potential loss of Ukrainian exports – was the latest development to push commodity prices higher.

In the first quarter of 2021, U.S. soybean exports reached the second-highest value ever at $7.7 billion, nearly double the same period last year.

While trade tensions and China’s retaliatory tariffs slashed U.S. agricultural exports to China in 2018 and 2019,

At a combined $23.8 billion, China and Hong Kong represent 18 percent of U.S. agricultural exports to the world, up from 10 percent just a decade ago.

Over the past decade, the United States' agricultural exports to China have risen sharply, propelling China into its position as the fastest-growing and highest-value export destination...

While EU demand for imported soybeans has fallen, the U.S. industry adjusted to meet rising demand elsewhere in the world.

A rapidly growing middle class in North Asia is expected to boost demand for U.S. agricultural exports over the next decade.

Production of distillers dried grains (DDG) has soared in recent years as ethanol production has grown.