USDA will shift its definition of “agricultural products” in terms of U.S. export data in the January 2021 trade data to be released March 5.
The change will adopt the WTO definition of “agricultural products” to include ethanol, distilled spirits, and tobacco products. Those products are not currently considered ag products under USDA's current definition.
The change will put the USDA numbers on agricultural products in line with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).
USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service is updating its historical datasets for the March 5 change and said it would “make data available under both definitions in its Global Agricultural Trade System (GATS) database.”