News

Cost of exporting ag products still rising

The cost of U.S. ag exports is rising without signals of slowing down.

Tony Clayton, owner of the livestock export company Clayton-Agri Marketing, tells Brownfield two years ago it was about half a million dollars to send a plane with livestock to China…

“Now you can get a quote anywhere from $800,000 to $1.2 million,” Clayton said.

He said purchasing space on cargo planes has also sharply increased.

Clayton says longer range shipments to trading partners like China need a refueling and flight crew changing point, which has become more difficult because of the Russian-Ukrainian War.

“We were using a company called AirBridge,” he said. “They were really the workhorse for all livestock industry, but they were based out of Moscow. With the sanctions, there’s no Russian company that is going to be allowed to fly into the US market. That is a carrier that is gone by the wayside and it will probably never be back.”

He said volatile fuel prices have prevented shipping companies from providing a quote on their costs. He says a one cent move in fuel price adds $1,100 on the price to fly a 747.