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USDA to temporarily suspend Weekly Export Sales reporting

The USDA’s Foreign Ag Service will temporarily suspend Weekly Export Sales reports temporarily as it works to resolve issues with its new system.  In a release on Wednesday, Administrator Daniel Whitley said FAS will revert to the legacy system while the department works to correct the issues.  Weekly reports will not be published on Thursday, September 1 or Friday, September 9, but are expected to resume Thursday, September 15. 

During the launch of the new system last week, FAS encountered challenges that compromised the data quality.  The department retracted the weekly export sales information and pulled the system offline.

When asked about it during this week’s Farm Progress Show, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said they’re working to have it fixed.  “I appreciate the fact that when we made the mistake, we owned up to it,” he says.  “Mistakes happen.”

The system relies on data submissions from exporters and Whitley says FAS is working closely with individual exporters to ensure that all export sales data is accurate.  He says staff will continue to provide support and outreach to both data reporters and data users on the re-launch of the new system. 

Whitley says data integrity, credibility, and transparency are priorities for FAS and the timely reporting of ag export sales is vital to effectively functioning markets. 

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