b'People, Product NewsU.S. Potato Exports Still Strong Exports to Taiwan (which managed Ag Groups Argue For CFAPDespite Pandemic Impacts toavoidanysignificantCOVID Application ExtensionU.S. potato exports for the July 2019 relatedrestrictions)wereup7%,thru the June 2020 marketing year Thailand up 6%, and Japan up 0.2%. In a letter to USDA Secretary Perdue,(MY20), declined 2.6% in value and NPC joined 27 state and national ag2.2% for the fresh weight equivalent ThevolumeofU.S.dehydrated organizations requesting the depart-volumefromthepreviousyears potato exports managed to end the ment extend the August 28 sign-uprecordlevels.Thesedeclineswere year up 0.77%. Significant declines deadlinefortheCoronavirusFoodduetothelossesinsalesduring of25%toThailand,20%tothe AssistanceProgram(CFAP).TheMarchJune due to the reduction Philippines,11%toTaiwan,and groupsarguethedeadlinemayindemandcausedbytheglobal 24% to Central America were offset exclude eligible producers from par-pandemic.U.S.exportsstartedthe by a 31% increase to the EU, a 23% ticipating in the program, includingmarketing year very strong and were increase to northern Africa and the producers of commodities that wereaboveMY19levelsthrough Middle East, and a 32% increase to recently added to the list of eligibleFebruary.Exportsbegantodecline South Korea. commodities, including most potatoin March with the largest reductions growers.in June. However, many countries in ThevolumeofU.S.freshpotatoAsia are now reopening and product exports dropped 3.67% for the mar- Theletterstatesthattheextendedthat got backed up when restaurants keting year due to a 5% decline to sign-up deadline would ensure FSAandotherestablishmentsstarted Canada, a 3% decline to Mexico, a staff has adequate time to process allclosing in February have now been 31%declinetoJapan,anda45% submitted applications and farmersdrawn down.decline to Korea.have ample opportunities to enrolleligiblecommodities.AtthesameIt is expected that while exports for Increasestoseveralothermarkets time, we strongly encourage you toJuly and August will be below year- helped make up for these declines, increaseproducerandstakeholderagolevels,thereductionsshould notablya60%increasetothe engagement initiatives. not be as great as they were in May Philippines,a34%increasetoand June. Taiwan, a 25% increase to Malaysia, WhiletheDepartmenthasdoneaanda45%increasetoCostaRica. commendable job in reaching out toThe volume of U.S. exports of frozen Freshpotatoexportsincludeboth all affected parties, communicationpotato products was down 4.28% for table-stock and chip-stock, as well as and outreach by FSA staff has likelythemarketingyear.Thedeclines potatoes destined for frozen process- been significantly impacted by thewererelativelyevenlydispersed ing in Canada. lackofface-to-faceinteractions;inacrossmarkets,butofnotewere addition,manyproducerseligibledeclinesof27%toChina,17%to Potatoes USA accepts no liability for for CFAP may have had limited orVietnam,13%toCentralAmerica, the content of these reports, or for nopreviousinteractionwithFSAand 6% to the Philippines. On the theconsequencesofanyactions staff. This latter fact likely impactedpositiveside,exportstoMexico taken on the basis of any informa- the estimates of CFAP eligibility andwereup12%duetotherecovery tion contained herein. Please reach benefits distributed to impacted pro-from significant losses the previous out to [email protected] with ducers.year from the 20% retaliatory tariff. any questions.SEPTEMBER/OCOTBER 2020 POTATO GROWER 29'