USDA joins with state ag departments and companies to tout trade in growing markets of Malaysia, Philippines, Burma and Thailand.

Jacqui Fatka, Policy editor

March 4, 2015

2 Min Read
Trade mission heads to southeast Asia

Leaders from six state agriculture departments and 21 U.S. agribusinesses and organizations will accompany U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under secretary Michael Scuse on a trade mission to Southeast Asia from March 9 to March 13 to expand export opportunities for U.S. food and agricultural products in one of the world's fastest-growing markets.

"U.S. agricultural exports to Southeast Asia have been on the rise thanks to strong economic growth and increasing demand for high-value products in the region," said Scuse, who leads USDA's Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services mission area. "With this growth expected to continue, the region holds significant untapped market potential for U.S. exporters."

"I am especially pleased to be traveling with a broad cross-section of U.S. agricultural interests who represent every region of the country and will help me showcase the quality, variety and abundance of farm and food products produced for export by the United States," Scuse said.

The delegation will travel to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Manila, Philippines, and will also meet with potential customers from Burma and Thailand while in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia, the Philippines, Burma and Thailand boast a combined population of 262 million. As members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), these countries are already strong trading partners of the United States. U.S. exports of food and agricultural products to the four countries have doubled over the past five years, from $2.7 billion in fiscal year 2009 to $5.4 billion in 2014.

Mission participants include representatives from the Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia departments of agriculture, as well as the following companies and organizations:

  • Bridgepathway LLC; Jericho, N.Y.

  • Case New Holland; New Holland, Pa.

  • Consolidated Grain and Barge Co.; Princeton, Ill.

  • Crown Nut Co.; Tracy, Calif.

  • Garuda International, Inc.; Exeter, Calif.

  • GEMCO; New York, N.Y.

  • The Ginger People; Marina, Calif.

  • Global Strategy Group/Greenfield Mills; Sunrise, Fla.

  • Gray & Company; Portland, Ore.

  • James Farrell & Co.; Seattle, Wash.

  • JM Grain; Garrison, N.D.

  • Kizable Kandy, LLC; Clearwater, Fla.

  • Nebraska Farm Bureau; Lincoln, Neb.

  • Platinum Trading; Alexandria, Va.

  • Richmond Wholesale Meats/American Custom; Richmond, Calif.

  • Robinson Fresh; Miramar, Fla.

  • Sun Grape Marketing; Visalia, Calif.

  • United Global Trading; Dallas, Tex.

  • U.S. International Foods; St. Louis, Mo.

  • USA Rice Federation; Arlington, Va.

  • Quirch Foods; Medley, Fla.

The next USDA trade mission will take place June 1 to June 5, 2015, to Panama and the Dominican Republic.

About the Author(s)

Jacqui Fatka

Policy editor, Farm Futures

Jacqui Fatka grew up on a diversified livestock and grain farm in southwest Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications, with a minor in agriculture education, in 2003. She’s been writing for agricultural audiences ever since. In college, she interned with Wallaces Farmer and cultivated her love of ag policy during an internship with the Iowa Pork Producers Association, working in Sen. Chuck Grassley’s Capitol Hill press office. In 2003, she started full time for Farm Progress companies’ state and regional publications as the e-content editor, and became Farm Futures’ policy editor in 2004. A few years later, she began covering grain and biofuels markets for the weekly newspaper Feedstuffs. As the current policy editor for Farm Progress, she covers the ongoing developments in ag policy, trade, regulations and court rulings. Fatka also serves as the interim executive secretary-treasurer for the North American Agricultural Journalists. She lives on a small acreage in central Ohio with her husband and three children.

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