Future Export Demand
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Most American grown ag products rely heavily on international demand for export business. That means changes in global demographics and geopolitics will have significant impacts on the farm of the future. Cobank lead economist Tanner Ehmke says that as China cools, demand from India continues to grow.
Ehmke… “China clearly has their headwinds with demographic issues, declining population, aging population. And so the question is, where does agricultural exports for the US grow in the future? Well, we're clearly seeing that in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia's been a huge growth for all kinds of commodities, and I think that's a bright spot that we have to celebrate. But Southeast Asia is a very disparate, you know, smattering of countries. The longer view here, I think is India. 1.4 billion people, the most populated country in the world. Now, the fastest growing major economy at over 7%. China's less than 5%, we're around 2% thereabouts. So India really here is the star in terms of population growth and in economic growth. The problem with India is that it's also a very disparate country. Very bureaucratic, highly protectionist. So those are some things that we're gonna have to work through longer term.”
That’s economist Tanner Ehmke with Cobank.
