U.S. hay price driven up by demand in China

LOS ANGELES, April 27 (Xinhua) -- As good quality hay is in demand in China but supplies dwindled after a drought-stricken 2017 winter season, the price of hay in the United States skyrocketed.

According to Friday's report of the Fence Post, a nationwide agricultural newspaper founded in Colorado in 1980, most hay products are selling 75 to 90 U.S. dollars per ton higher than last year.
In Colorado, where it is difficult to find good quality hay if it's not precontracted, the price of supreme alfalfa has risen to 275 to 300 U.S. dollars per ton, while in Wyoming, where the price is described "steady," Grade-1 large round hay bales are selling at 123 U.S. dollars per ton this year, compared to being pegged at 80 U.S. dollars per ton a year ago.

Besides of bad weather last winter, a key factor to hike the hay price is demand from other countries, especially in China, the report said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service's data shows that alfalfa hay exports in 2017 totaled a record 2.7 million metric tons, up 7.2 percent from 2016 and the third consecutive year of growth.

China, the biggest U.S. hay exports destination, purchased 1.17 million metric tons of U.S. alfalfa during 2017, more than double the amount bought by Japan, the second-place importer of U.S. alfalfa.

Exports to China were 6.8 percent more than 2016, and since from 2012, alfalfa hay exports to China have risen a whopping 226 percent.

"The U.S. exported 356 million U.S. dollars worth of hay last year, with 44 percent going to China." the Fence Post report said, "and if the tariff war doesn't hit the hay, exports to China are expected to grow."