The forage business has become a Pacific trade route.
Last year, the United States shipped out more than 85,000 containers full of compressed hay, pellets and cubes mostly bound for Japan, South Korea and Taiwan where high quality forage demands a premium price.
It is usually shipped from the ports of Seattle and Portland. About 60 percent of American forage exports come from Washington, Idaho and Oregon.
While there is potential in other Asian markets, those three appear to be the most viable, taking about 2.3 million tonnes annually.
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“There are other countries in the Pacific Rim, but most people are really focusing on Japan and Korea,” said Bill Ford at the recent Canadian Hay Association annual meeting.
Working with Washington State University’s agriculture extension service, Ford tracks the forage industry in Pacific Northwest states and follows export trade to Asia.
While alfalfa remains the queen of forages in the Pacific Northwest, other crops such as timothy, oat hay, perennial rye grass, bermuda grass and sudangrass are gaining ground and are also exported.
Japan is the primary buyer of Canadian and American hay products.
Last year, Japan imported 1.78 million tonnes of forage products, while South Korea took 175,790 tonnes and Taiwan bought 109,434 tonnes.
Alfalfa cubes are a large share of the export plan. The U.S. sold 410,000 tonnes to Japan followed by Canada at 117,000. Other suppliers provided close to 6,700 tonnes.
Compressed hay exports to Japan are booming with the U.S. shipping 1.3 million tonnes, Canada 149,500 and Australia 158,000 tonnes.
Canada leads in alfalfa pellets, selling Japan 240,340 tonnes last year.
As the South Korean economy continues to improve, its demand for forage products is also growing.
In 1990, the South Koreans bought no hay but in 1999 purchases totaled over 200,000 tonnes. They are also big purchasers of alfalfa pellets, cubes and straw.
“Korea is really starting to blossom. They are very price conscious,” said Ford.
Projections at the early part of the decade were to ship 500,000 tonnes of forages to South Korea.
“If things go our way, we should be able to hit 500,000 metric tonnes this year,” he said.
As export demand grows, Ford anticipates forage acres will increase in the Pacific Northwest, particularly in central Washington where the crops are irrigated. About 75 percent of the crop is alfalfa, which has yielded reasonable returns during a period of low cereal prices. About 50,000 acres of forages will be grown next year.
