The new estimate is lower than the USDA projection of 45 million tons and the International Grains Council’s figure of 44 million tons. The Russian crop was 60 million tons last year.

As a result, the FAO raised its U.S. wheat exports estimate in this marketing year to 33 million tons, an increase of 10 million tons from its outlook in June.

Read more from FAO here:

Speculation that Ukraine was considering imposing quotas on grain exports has been a factor in soaring world wheat prices.

“It’s my understanding that the Food and Drug Administration, about the time of the recall or about the time the eggs would have gone out, had issued some new regulations that probably would have intercepted the problems that we now face,” said Grassley

But he says Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro does not agree and is holding congressional hearings on the situation. She is the loudest voice for food safety reforms in the House.

Grassley says he does agree that the FDA needs more enforcement authority.

“Confidence in our food is very essential for consumer safety but also for profitability for farmers. It’s not good for farmers if people have any doubts about the food supply,” said Grassley.

There are reports the Senate will take up the food modernization act when it returns in mid-September – that comprehensive food safety bill passed the House last year.

“A lot of our pork is going in to further processing which ultimately goes to the consumers,” said Seng. “As the price of those ingredients go up it’s going to be passed on to the consumer because ultimately they are going to be paying for this.”

Mexico’s tariff rate is now five percent on U.S. ham and shoulder cuts and 20 percent on cooked skin pellets. All of this made worse by Mexico’s economy which is affected by the global financial downturn.

“The peso is weaker than it was,” said Seng. “I think then it was ten pesos to the dollar and now it’s about twelve peso to the dollar. Just with the exchange rate alone when you take a look at this, this is going to exact a toll on the Mexican consumers.”

While others are downplaying the effect on the US pork industry, Seng says markets are volatile and can change.

“Whether it’s one percent or five percent, anything that is taking a pound of meat away from our exporters or taking a dollar out of our producer’s pockets is something we have to be very concerned about,” said Seng.

While the U.S. is by far the largest foreign supplier of pork to Mexico, Seng says it should not take the position for granted. The tariffs on U.S. pork do not apply to other pork exporting countries.

With sow operations in Colorado, Oklahoma, and North Carolina, and finishing operations centered in Iowa, M2P2 will produce 1,300,000 pigs annually.

AgFeed is a U.S. company with operations primarily in China. AgFeed has two business lines — animal nutrients in premix, concentrates and complete feeds and hog production.

Mexico is our largest cheese export customer buying 44 million pounds of the targeted lines in the first six months of this year which is on pace to exceed the average 77 million pounds per year in 2008 and 2009.

Like the pork industry which has also found itself now on the list, dairy interests are calling on Congress and the Obama Administration to quickly resolve the trucking issue. The U.S. trucking industry opposes allowing Mexican trucks full access to U.S. highways citing safety concerns.

Farm Bureau president Bob Stallman says the U.S. government is not meeting its obligations under NAFTA.  He says Mexico is one of the United States’ best trading partners and allowing the dispute to continue is “unacceptable”. 

Mexico has imposed the tariffs because, under NAFTA, Mexican motor carriers are allowed to transport international cargo within the U.S.  However, in early 2009, Congress failed to renew a pilot program allowing a limited number of trucks from Mexico to haul loads into the U.S. beyond a 25-mile zone.

Asked why the issue still hasn’t been resolved, the vice-president of international affairs for the National Pork Producers Council, Nick Giordano, says it’s politics as usual.

“Everything is about politics.  We’ve got mid-term elections coming up here and, you know, the unions—this is the teamsters—and the claim is Mexican trucks aren’t safe,” says Giordano.

That’s a bogus argument, says Giordano.

“All the U.S. government data—all the studies that have been done—the pilot truck project that the United States administered—everything—the Mexicans came back with a stellar safety rating,” he says.

Farm Bureau says that, under NAFTA, U.S. food and agriculture exports to Mexico have more than tripled, from less than four billion dollars per year prior to NAFTA to more than 12 billion dollars in 2007.  Mexico is the second largest export market for U.S. ag products.

Kirk says President Obama understands the “economic pain” the tariffs cause for American farmers, companies and workers and that they’re committed to resolving the dispute with Mexico and ending those duties.

U.S. pork is reported to be one of the items added to the renewed list which Mexico has not yet made public.

According to TheTrucker.com, Patrick Kilbride with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued a statement saying “enough is enough” and urged the administration to end the dispute saying that the U.S. must “meet its commitment to Mexico to allow cross-border trucking services as agreed to in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).”