Asian crisis expected to hit US farm exports

24 February 1998

Asian crisis expected to hit US farm exports

THE US Agriculture Department announced that USA farm exports would decline $2.1 billion this year as the Asian financial crisis curbed the demand for imported food.

However, 1998 would be the fourth consecutive year that farm exports topped $54bn.

August Schumacher, agriculture under-secretary, said the effects of the crisis were manageable because of the liberalisation of world trade.
Farm exports in the Western hemisphere are forecast to reach a high this year of $10.8bn, up 8%.

• Financial Times 24/02/98 page 7