U.S. agriculture recorded its third straight monthly trade deficit in May at $88.672 million due to exports valued at $9.777 billion against imports of $9.865 billion, according to USDA's monthly trade update from the Economic Research Service (ERS).
The trade red ink for May was down from the record $387.191 million for April. The three monthly deficits now total $511.215 million.
So far in Fiscal 2016, U.S. ag exports are valued at $86.702 billion against imports of $76.665 billion for a trade surplus of $10.037 billion.
All three areas are behind this point in Fiscal 2015 when exports totaled $100.725 billion, imports were at $76.892 billion for a trade surplus of $23.833 billion.
Total Fiscal 2015 figures were at $139.741 billion for exports, $114.026 billion for imports for a trade surplus of $25.725 billion.
For May, the value of U.S. ag exports actually increased $181 million compared to April while the value of imports fell $118 million, resulting in the much smaller trade deficit in May compared to April.
This marked two months in a row for the value of US ag exports to be under $10 billion. In Fiscal 2015, it took until June for the value of US ag exports to fall under the $10 billion mark where it stayed through September.