THE COMPETITION IN 1997

U.S. and Competitor Expenditures on Export Promotion and
Export Subsidies for Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Products

June 30, 1998

Most agricultural exporting countries use public export promotion to enhance their position in foreign markets. There are nearly as many methods for financing these activities as there are countries conducting them, and there is no uniform definition or accounting method for these expenditures. However, information can generally be found on how much is financed by government budgetary outlays and how much is financed by contributions from industry sources. Industry contributions are often derived from levies on producers and processors or on exports of the products eligible for export promotion. Several countries, including the United States, also use export subsidies to aid in the marketing of their agricultural exports. Table 1, which appears on page 6 of this report, summarizes the results of our survey of these expenditures for 1997. These figures show that for export promotion and export subsidies the United States is outspent by more than 20:1 by our competitors. Total foreign expenditures were nearly $8.7 billion dollars compared to U.S. expenditures of $432 million. The biggest competitor was the European Union which spent over $7.5 billion, 96 percent of which was used for direct export subsidies. Looking only at market promotion expenditures, our competitors spent $924 million compared to U.S. expenditures of $311 million. About 10 percent of foreign market promotion funding is devoted to activities in the U.S. market

EXPENDITURES AND ACTIVITIES BY EU MEMBER COUNTRIES

EXPENDITURES AND ACTIVITIES OF OTHER COMPETITOR COUNTRIES

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Last modified: Monday, August 29, 2005