USDA aides to travel to Asia next week

USDA aides to travel to Asia next week

WASHINGTON (Reuters): Top U.S. Agriculture Department
officials will visit a number of financially-troubled Asian
nations next week to get a first-hand view of current prospects
for U.S. agricultural exports.

Foreign Agricultural Service Administrator Lon Hatamiya, now
in his fourth month on the job, is scheduled to arrive Tuesday in
Thailand.

He will also visit Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong,
South Korea and Japan before departing for the United States on
Jan 24.

USDA Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services
Gus Schumacher will join Hatamiya for the last five stops and
USDA General Sales Manager Chris Goldthwait also will be along
for part of the tour, aides said.

In recent weeks, USDA has taken a number of steps to bolster
U.S. agricultural exports to Southeast Asia and South Korea,
which remain in the grip of a financial crisis.

On Dec 22, it offered South Korea $1.0 billion in loan
guarantees for purchases for U.S. farm goods. One week later, it
cleared the way for South Korea to begin using $400 million of
the package.

This week, it more than doubled the amount of credit
guarantees previously announced for Southeast Asia - Malaysia,
Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Singapore - to $1.04
billion.

USDA initially forecast U.S. agricultural exports to South
Korea and Southeast Asia at $6.7 billion in fiscal 1998, up
modestly from $6.4 billion in fiscal 1997.

Buy on Dec 2, USDA lowered that projection by $500 million to
reflect the countries' reduced purchasing power as a result of a
sharp drop in the value of their currencies.

In view of the countries' continuing difficulties, USDA
officials have acknowledged that fiscal 1998 sales to South Korea
and Southeast Asian nations could fall below the current forecast
of $6.2 billion.

At the same time, they note that South Korea and Southeast
Asia account for only about 10 percent of total U.S. agricultural
exports and strong sales to Mexico and Latin America could offset
some of the decline in that region.

Nonetheless, Hatamiya told Reuters recently, USDA is
determined to do what it can to maintain U.S. market share in
South Korea and Southeast Asia.

The trip to Asia has been planned for some time.