USDA increases export loans for SE Asian nations

USDA increases export loans for SE Asian nations

WASHINGTON (Reuters): The U.S. Agriculture Department said on
Monday that it is extending an additional $545 million in loan
guarantees to help financially-troubled Southeast Asian nations
buy U.S. farm goods.

The action includes a new $100-million export credit line for
Malaysia and raises the total amount of USDA export credits
available to the region to more than $1 billion, USDA said.

"Today's increase in guarantees will help maintain the
competitiveness of U.S. agricultural exports to the Southeast
Asian region," USDA Secretary Dan Glickman said in a statement
announcing the action.

"Buyers in these markets purchased more than $3 billion in
U.S. agricultural goods in 1997, and we want to ensure that our
future sales remain strong," Glickman said.

Malaysia will be able to buy a variety of U.S. farm goods --
including cotton, feed grains, meat, soybeans and wheat under its
new $100 million GSM-102 package, USDA said.

In addition, USDA announced the following other actions:

* an increase in the GSM-102 credit line for Indonesia to $400
million, from $250 million;

* an increase in the GSM-102 line for Thailand to $300 million,
from $100 million;

* an increase in GSM-102 line for the Philippines to $100
million, from $20 million.

A supplier credit package for the Southeast Asian region --
which includes the four countries listed above and Singapore --
was also raised to $50 million, from $35 million, USDA said.

Monday's action more than doubles the amount of USDA export
credits previously announced for Southeast Asia in fiscal 1998,
which began October 1.

It also follows USDA's decision in December to provide $1
billion in export credits for South Korea, the United States'
fourth largest agricultural export market.

Last week, USDA cleared the way for South Korea to begin using
$400 million of the GSM-102 loan guarantees to purchase U.S. farm
goods.

No sales had been registered to South Korea under the program
as of Monday, USDA's export credit office said.

Under the supplier credit program, USDA guarantees short-term
loans made by exporters to purchasers of foreign agricultural
goods.

In addition to boosting the supplier credit line for Southeast
Asia, USDA added feed grains, wheat and protein meal to the list
of commodities eligible to be purchased.

Similarly, it added barley malt to the line for Thailand and
fresh fruit to the line for the Philippines.

Other fiscal 1998 initiatives for the region include:

* $10 million in GSM-103 intermediate-term credits for
Indonesia and $2 million in GSM-103 credits for the Philippines
to purchases of U.S. breeder livestock;

* $40 million in "facility" loan guarantees to help Southeast
Asia nations finance the construction of storage facilities for
imported U.S. grains, meat and other farm goods.