This issue was published in November 1998 by the Market and Trade Economics Division. Agricultural Outlook is published 10 times per year by the Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. To order Agricultural Outlook , please visit the ERS-NASS Sales Desk . The contents section at the bottom of this page links to each article in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
China is among the world's largest producers and consumers of animal proteins.
Discussions between now and the conclusion of the 1999 WTO mini-round on agriculture may address a number of unresolved questions concerning green box policies. Relatively high prices at planting pulled up U.S. rice area more than 5 percent in 1998 from a year earlier to nearly 3.22 million acres, the second consecutive annual increase. The larger planted area will more than offset a drop in yield to produce the third-largest rice crop on record. At the same time, Asian textile exporters that traditionally ship to the U.S. are expected to enter the next century with weaker currencies and with notably lower wages and incomes than originally expected, making their exports more price competitive. However, the increasing technical complexity and vertical integration of the U.S. textile industry, combined with several decades of global trade liberalization, will help U.S. cotton farmers continue to find both domestic and foreign customers for their fiber.