Ag container shippers figure prominently in latest Top 100 U.S. exporter rankings; focus shifting to SE Asia development

By Bruce Abbe

Familiar names of U.S. container ag export shippers popped up once again in the latest annual Top 100 U.S. Importer and Exporter rankings published in last week’s print issue of the leading transportation industry publication, the Journal of Commerce (JOC). SSGA provided insights to a second accompanying JOC feature story in that key annual issue on how U.S. ag exporters are accelerating their focus on developing Southeast Asian markets.

The rankings were based on data from Port Import/Export Reporting Service (PIERS), a sister company of JOC, which are based on bill of lading reports provided to U.S. customs regulators.

Note: One key factor worth noting, however, is that PIERS data only comes from reports provided to the U.S. government on shipments leaving from U.S. ports. Numbers from ag and other U.S. exporters that use Canadian railroads to ship from Canadian ports are not included in the JOC Top 100 statistics, so the actual container exports from the U.S. shippers are often larger.

The JOC/PIERS data is reported in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), the standard method for measuring container volumes. Since 40 foot containers are the larger, more commonly shipped size of containers on ocean vessels, compared to 20 foot containers, the number of actual ocean-going containers is less than the TEU totals.

Among the Top 100 U.S. container ag grain and oilseed exporters in 2018 by ranking were:

4. The DeLong Company, number four overall, with 144,461 TEU’s in 2018 shipped from U.S. ports. Animal feed/food grain & soy.
5. Louis Dreyfus Company, 85,166. Predominantly cotton.
6. Lansing Trade Group, 65,181. Animal feed & grain.
7. Cargill, 61,869. Conglomerate (variety of export products).
8. Scoular, 57,570. Agricultural goods.
9. Gavilon, 55,344. Animal feed and grain.
10. Archer Daniels Midland, 43,132. Agricultural goods.
11. CHS, 41,408. Agriculture, energy, food products.
12. Al Dahra ACX Global, 38,171. Animal feed & grain.
13. Perdue Agribusiness, 32,170. Food and feed products.
14. Green Plains Trading, 31,911. Animal feed and grain, primarily DDGS.
15. Fornazor International, 25,044. Animal feed and grain.
16. Prairie Creek Grain, 24,339. Animal feed and grain.
17. Toyota Tsusho America, 16,671. Conglomerate (variety of export products including grain & feed).
18. Poet Nutrition, 12,942. Animal feed and grain, primarily DDGS.
19. Stone Arch Commodities, 12,200. Animal feed and grain.

It’s worth noting that all but two of the above-mentioned ag shippers are recent members of the Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA), or have been sponsors or exhibitors at SSGA’s annual international soy and specialty grains conference.

Other prominent U.S. ag companies on the list include meat exporters JBS USA, Tyson Foods and Smithfield foods; chemical and other products exporter Dupont; and John Deere equipment manufacturer.

The top three exporters were conglomerate Koch Industries, International Paper, and American Chung Nam, a leading paper and plastics recycling company.

The leading U.S. importers, in order, included Walmart, 940,410 TEU; Target, 631,621; and Home Depot, 417,000.

Go here to view JOC’s Top 100 Importers and Exporters coverage in detail.

Growing SE Asia Market

The total number of U.S. ag exports in 2018 of container shipped grains, cotton, fruits, nuts, vegetables, oilseeds such as soybeans, and related food & feed products totaled 1,465,462 TEUs, JOC reported. That was relatively flat, down just 0.1 percent from 2017.

However, that doesn’t reflect the shift in export markets and destinations that has been going on in a big way over 2018.

SSGA factored in a separate analysis feature story reported by JOC.

“Agricultural products are susceptible to global events beyond the control of growers, including weather, currency fluctuations, tariffs, and environmental and quality restrictions,” said Bruce Abbe, past president of the Midwest Shippers Association (MSA) and strategic adviser for SSGA. “The slight dip in exports in 2018 reflected tariff issues in China and India.”

Among North Asia Markets, U.S. ag exports to China in 2018 dropped 24.5 percent from 2017; and slid 6.5 percent to Japan, and 10.4 percent to South Korea. However, exports to Taiwan bumped up by 16.4 percent.

The Southeast Asian market, however, “has been fertile ground for U.S. ag exports over the past five years,” JOC reported. U.S. container ag exports were up – 9.9 percent to Indonesia, 38.1 percent to Vietnam, 21 percent up to Thailand, and up 44.2 percent to the Philippines in 2018 compared to 2014.

Container ag exports from the U.S. continue to be largely based on being the “backhaul” in the Trans Pacific lanes for getting containers back to manufacturers in Asia for the more lucrative “head haul.” While the West Coast ports remain the leading outbound gateways, JOC noted that East and Gulf coast ports “are more diversified, exporting sizable volumes to Latin America and Europe, as well.”

Abbe added that the exporters of specialty products, such as peas, lentils and pulses say markets throughout Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent will continue to grow in the coming years as manufacturing jobs expand and the middle-class populations in those regions increase. Carriers welcome this development because it generates a two-way haul, with imports of consumer merchandise into the U.S. and growing agricultural exports for the backhaul.

Go here for the full, more detailed story.