Agricultural Export Reporting Issues

Since the establishment of a mandatory export reporting system in September 1973, all exporters of wheat and wheat flour, feed grains, oilseeds, cotton, and related commodities have provided the Department of Agriculture with weekly export sales data. Throughout its existence, the export reporting system has been plagued with problems which have resulted in questions concerning its accuracy, effectiveness, and efficiency. The system has fallen short of providing timely, accurate, reliable, and complete agricultural export data. It has not provided prospective sales information and was not effective as an early warning system. A survey of agricultural commodity exporters indicated that exporters had a generally favorable attitude toward the export sales reporting system but that most exporters were generally opposed to more stringent controls. However, exporters were generally dissatisfied with past Government actions which caused them to cancel or renegotiate contracts. They were generally satisfied with the voluntary prior approval system which was a mild precontractual review of large volume export sales. A study of the relationship between weekly agricultural prices and weekly data published in the export reports showed inconsistent results, and an analysis of the reporting system's impact on price variability showed little impact on prices as a result of the reporting system. Proposed legislation is designed to make more and better export information available to the Secretary of Agriculture and to provide a mechanism for more timely decisionmaking.