Crop Forecasts Help Make Programming Decisions

One of USDBC’s programming goals in 2017 is to continue to improve our crop forecasting intelligence in competitor and principal export markets. This is a service we have always provided but with new challenges and opportunities in global trade, we are focused on improving this critical function.

Argentine Black Beans from this year’s harvest in the provinces of Salta, Tucuman, and Jujuy. Photo Courtesy of Ellen Levinson

USDBC has just completed a crop survey in Argentina which will be available to our members in the coming days. It’s important to produce detailed information on this competitor market as it gives us a sense of what opportunities or challenges we face in export markets in the Americas. If Argentina has a poor crop it has a direct impact on our export opportunities to Brazil. At the same time, Brazil’s own crop forecast determines their own import needs. Last year a combination of poor harvests in Argentina and Brazil, coupled with an increased USDBC presence in Brazil, allowed us to gain a foothold in the Brazilian market. We are confident there will be new export opportunities for U.S. dry beans to Brazil this year and we will have more detail on potential market size once we return from a fact finding and seminar event in Brazil later this month.

Argentine White beans from this year’s harvest in the provinces of Salta Tucuman and Jujuy. Photo Courtesy of Ellen Levinson

We have just issued the Spring/Summer planting intentions report for Mexico which is a high priority component of our intelligence gathering, Mexico is a top two export market and planting intentions together with harvest reports allow our industry to make important business decisions. We have just issued our planting intentions report for China and earlier this year we provided market intelligence on Ethiopia’s bean harvest. Again, production levels in these two markets have a direct impact on our global export opportunities and competitiveness. As we continue to work to gain a foothold in India, India’s own crop forecasts and business dynamics, are also a crucial part of our export strategy. We will continue to enhance this market intelligence function to help our industry make their own business forecasts, to increase our global competitiveness, and to continue to move our high quality dry beans into the world market. All of our planting intention and crop reports are available on the members only section of our website.