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Dollar strength has weakened exports

A marketing expert says the rising value of the dollar is influencing agricultural exports.  Bryan Doherty with Total Farm Marketing tells Brownfield a rising dollar is not conducive to strong U.S. exports, and the dollar has been in a textbook up trend. “It costs about 16% more just on the value of the dollar rising for someone to import say a bushel of corn. Couple that with rising corn prices and you should see it gets really challenging to aggressively buy, and that’s why you often see countries buy only as needed.”

Doherty says as the dollar has risen, exports have slowed. “It’s kind of a one-two punch where a rising commodity value and a rising dollar have made it difficult for importing countries to aggressively buy.”

Doherty says China is a country that just buys commodities when they need them.  He also expects more production from South America, which will make their corn and soybeans more price competitive.