U.S. agricultural production is consumed domestically,
exported, or used in food processing. The share
of production that is exported indicates the contribution
of exports to U.S. agricultural receipts. However,
two measures of export share are available, one
based
on volume or weight (usually referred to as the
volume measure) and the other on dollar values.
Export
shares of U.S. agricultural production
Average
1980-84
1990-94
1999
2002
Based
on volume
Percent
Aggregate share
29.2
23.1
22.8
21.9
Livestock
2.7
5.4
10.1
10.3
——Red meat
1.3
4.1
8.0
8.6
——Poultry meat
3.9
7.4
14.3
14.4
——Dairy products
8.3
5.0
5.5
3.3
Crops
30.8
24.2
23.8
22.8
——Food grains
61.1
51.0
47.1
46.7
——Feed crops
27.4
21.2
21.2
21.3
——Oilseeds/meal/oil
32.9
25.4
27.2
24.0
——Fruits and nuts1
8.7
12.2
13.3
13.9
——Vegetables
5.1
5.7
6.5
6.5
——Cotton/tobacco
49.0
40.7
39.3
57.6
Based on value
Aggregate share
21.9
16.8
16.7
17.7
——Livestock
2.6
5.5
7.5
7.6
——Crops
41.0
28.5
26.4
27.3
1 Includes fruit
juices and wine.
Sources: ERS estimates based on data
from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural
Service and National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Both
the volume and value measures include
primary livestock and crop commodities as well
as major
processed food products. Each
measure has advantages. The volume-based
measure reduces the variations
due to product prices, while the value measure
better reflects
product quality,
such as differences between
a pound of steak
and a pound of hamburger.
To make volume-
and value-based export shares comparable,
the measures include
only products for which both production and export
volumes
are available.
Products excluded for this
reason are mostly
minor and include greenhouse and
nursery products, seeds,
cattle, hides and skins, and
animal fats.
The export share of U.S. agricultural
production, based on volume, has averaged
22 percent since 1996, reflecting the high
weight of
exported food
and feed
grains, oilseeds and oilseed
products, cotton, and tobacco relative to their
total
harvested
weight. However, this overall export
share masks
differences
in trends between livestock products
and crops and
crop products. The export share
of U.S. livestock products rose from 3 percent
in the
1980s
to more than 10 percent in recent years,
while the
export share of crops and crop products
fell from
over
30
percent to 23 percent during
the same period. Behind these contrasting trends
has
been
the
increase in
U.S. livestock and poultry production
and the corresponding feed requirements that
have diminished
feed grains
available for export.
The export share of U.S. agricultural products,
based on values,
averaged 17 percent from 1998 to 2002, 5 percentage
points lower than the
volume-based
average. The
lower value-based measure
reflects the
lower aggregate
value of livestock
exports relative to their
farm production value. The
historical movement of
the two
export share measures shows
no
consistent
pattern—about
half the time
they move in
the
same
direction and
the other
half
not. For example,
the volume-based
share declined
from 23 percent
in 2001 to
22 percent
in 2002, while
the
value-based
share rose
from 17
to 18 percent.
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