The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will sponsor seven trade missions in 2019 to expand export opportunities for U.S. agriculture across the globe, Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney announced today.
“Agricultural trade missions offer phenomenal opportunities for U.S. exporters to explore new markets and forge relationships with potential customers,” McKinney said. “The marketing and trade experts from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service carefully select markets – both developing and established – that offer the best prospects for sales of U.S. farm and food products. We’ve got seven such markets, on five continents, lined up for 2019.
“During and after the numerous USDA trade missions I’ve led, the feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive. But most importantly, the results speak for themselves. In 2018, six USDA missions enabled more than 200 U.S. companies and organizations to engage in 3,000 one-on-one meetings with foreign buyers, generating more than $140 million in projected 12-month sales,” McKinney said.
While final dates are subject to confirmation, planned USDA trade missions for 2019 are:
Taiwan (Taipei), March 11-14
Canada (Montreal and Toronto), April 2-5
Colombia (Bogota), June 3-6 (to include buyers from Panama)
Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City), October 14-17 (to include buyers from Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand)
Kenya (Nairobi), October 28-31 (to include buyers from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda)
Mexico (Mexico City), November 5-8
United Kingdom (London), TBD
