Last year was a challenging one for Washington’s agriculture exporters.

The value of the state’s food and other agriculture products shipped overseas dropped about 6% over 2022. The decrease “(wasn’t) huge, but we had been – after the pandemic – increasing again, ramping back up, so it was a hit,” said Rianne Ham, manager of the international marketing program for the Washington State Department of Agriculture.

The main culprit, she said, was economic conditions around the globe.

“Trade was down overall worldwide,” she said, and Washington felt the effects.

‘It’s all so connected’

The total value of all food and agriculture exports shipped out of Washington to foreign countries totaled $19 billion in 2023. When the products that weren’t grown or processed here but merely passed through were factored out, the total was $7.5 billion, according to data from the state Department of Agriculture.

That compares to $23.4 billion for all exports and $8 billion for those originating in Washington, respectively, in 2022, the data showed.

While most of the Washington-originating crops in the top 10 for 2023 were in the lineup the year before, there was some movement. Frozen french fries and other frozen potato products, for example, shot to the top with $1.1 billion in export value. That was an 11.42% increase over 2022.

Meanwhile, fish and seafood; wheat; dairy; hay; and hop cones and extracts also saw drops of nearly 15% or more each over the year before.

Wheat, dairy, hay – "these are products that were really affected by the exchange rate. Wheat had a smaller crop, smaller yields. Prices were down worldwide for wheat...Dairy had decreased demand worldwide; there was more supply globally,” Ham said.

China, for example, she added, previously had increased dairy consumption and even was importing whey products for livestock. But “they were hit by swine flu a couple of years ago, which really devastated their production. And they’ve decreased their dairies themselves. There are so many linkages between supply and demand,” she said.

“Even looking at hay,” she went on to say, “China had been growing in their imports of hay, and the decreased demand for dairy reduced their dairy production themselves, which reduced their imports of hay. It’s all so connected.”

Even so, the news wasn’t all bad. Apples, wheat and cherries all saw improvement.

And for some commodities, “we are seeing that there seem to be increases happening, toward the end of 2023 some of it was going back up," Ham said. "We’re hoping 2024 is a stronger year." 

Top 10 customers

The list of top 10 markets for Washington exports was similar last year compared to 2022.

Canada remained the biggest customer, buying $1.3 billion in fish and seafood; apples; onions; frozen fruit; cherries; and other products in 2023.

Japan came in second, buying $1.2 billion in frozen french fries and other frozen potato products, hay, fish and seafood, wheat, dairy, frozen vegetables, pet and animal feeds, fruit and vegetable juices, pasta and beef. China came in third, buying $857 million in products, including beef, fish, seafood, wheat, hay, pulses, cherries and other goods.

While China’s buying increased 2.82% in 2023, Canada’s and Japan’s buying dropped.

Mexico was in the No. 4 slot in 2023, trading places with South Korea.

Mexico’s buying of $687 million in 2023 was a 41.8% increase over 2022. But, “some of it is just kind of normalizing” after a bad year in 2022, Ham said.

The Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia and Hong Kong were in spots six through nine, respectively.

Vietnam, which was the site of a recent trade mission from Washington, rounded out the top 10. The country bought $157 million in Washington agriculture exports in 2023, including apples, dairy, wheat, fish and seafood, cherries, frozen french fries and other frozen potato products, beef, hop cones and extracts, frozen vegetables, and live poultry and birds. 

Looking ahead

Looking ahead, Ham is hopeful.

Challenges remain on the horizon, from disruptions in the Suez and Panama canals that have trickle-down effects on Washington exports, to lack of free trade with markets in places such as Southeast Asia.

“There is frustration in the agriculture industry in the U.S. as a whole, and certainly in Washington, that a more aggressive trade agenda hasn’t been on the table,” Ham said. “That is something that will continue to be pushed.”

One exciting development is India’s removal of retaliatory tariffs on apple imports, which had been in place for a few years and devastated apple exports to the country, Ham said.

“It’s going to be interesting this next year to see what happens, if we can break back into the market,” she said, adding that “it’s really great. It’s good news.”

Washington’s wine industry also is looking to help out British Columbia grape growers, who were hit hard by freezing weather.

“We probably will be seeing shipments of Washington wine grapes to Canada,” Ham said.

Overall, Ham is hoping for good weather and good economic news this year.

“Hopefully the economy will balance out and we’ll see some higher numbers next year,” she said.