2020 Agricultural Export Yearbook

The 2020 U.S. Agricultural Export Yearbook provides a statistical summary of U.S. agricultural commodity exports to the world. This summary lists only the United States’ primary trading partners. The Yearbook is produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) using trade data published by the U.S. Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Foreign country export data was sourced from the reporting countries’ national statistical agencies as reported through Trade Data Monitor (TDM).

The 2020 U.S. Agricultural Export Yearbook consists of two sections: (1) top U.S. commodity exports and (2) top destinations for U.S. exports. The Yearbook utilizes FAS Product Groups that can be found at FAS’ Global Agricultural Trade System (GATS) located at https://apps.fas.usda.gov/gats/. The product groups are defined using the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) at the 10-digit level and aggregated into classifications that include the primary commodity and its derivatives. FAS has titled these product groups as “BICO (HS-10).” BICO is an FAS designation that stands for Bulk, Intermediate & Consumer Oriented goods. The bulk commodity groups, such as corn, wheat, and rice, are aggregations of very few HTS codes. For example, the soybeans product group includes only 2 HTS codes; and cotton includes only 5 codes; while the Beef and Beef Product category incorporates 26 HTS lines; Dairy Products includes 46 HTS lines; and Fresh Vegetables includes 70 HTS codes.

The 16 product groups or commodity aggregations, displayed in the Yearbook, are based on the United States’ largest export categories. Ethanol is not considered an agricultural product according to the USDA definition of agriculture, and its export value is not included in the total value of U.S. agricultural exports ($145.7 billion).¹ However, a Yearbook page on ethanol has been included in this publication because of the large value of its exports and its importance to the agricultural community and rural America. The top 15 export product groups (not including ethanol) accounts for nearly 72 percent of total U.S. agricultural products exported in 2020.

The country Yearbook pages include the United States’ top 15 export destinations as well as a page for the United Kingdom (UK). The European Union (EU27+UK), a customs union comprised of 28 member states, is included as a single trading partner. The only exception is that the UK has its own yearbook page given the importance of its withdrawal from the EU-28. The top 14 export markets represent 80 percent of total U.S. agricultural exports in 2020.

Commodities

• Export Overview
• Beef & Beef Products
• Corn
• Cotton
• Dairy Products
• Ethanol
• Fresh Fruits & Vegetables
• Pork & Pork Products
• Poultry Meat & Products
• Prepared Food
• Rice
• Soybeans
• Tree Nuts
• Wheat

Countries

• Country Overview
• Canada
• China
• Colombia
• Egypt
• EU27+UK
• Hong Kong
• Indonesia
• Japan
• Mexico
• Philippines
• South Korea
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• United Kingdom
• Vietnam

¹ The USDA changed its definition of “agricultural products” in March 2021 to conform to World Trade Organization standards. The new definition includes ethanol.