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Previous Newsroom Items: January 2006

Features

	Agricultural contracting: a growing trend (January 17, 2006) A growing share of farm product transactions are made through agreements between farmers and buyers prior to crop harvest or livestock production. Contracts covered 39 percent of the value of agricultural production in 2003, up from 36 percent in 2001, and contracting shows a strong upward trend. Get Report Summary (pdf)

	Summary of latest U.S. agricultural trade data (January 12, 2006) The latest summary of U.S. agricultural trade data is now available. Each month, it is released the day before the full U.S. Agricultural Trade Update. See our calendar of releases for the exact dates.

	India: A growing market for apples (January 11, 2006) Strong economic growth is projected to expand apple demand, but the high cost of domestic and imported apples compared with other Indian fruit is likely to limit consumption. U.S. apples have accounted for the largest share of Indian imports, but face increasing competition from high-quality and low-cost Chinese apples.

	New directions in China's agricultural lending (January 10, 2006) China has substantially boosted lending to farmers and agribusinesses in recent years. Loans for rural infrastructure rose as well. Rural credit cooperatives and banks that lend to agriculture are being reformed and commercialized as Chinese policymakers attempt to reverse the historic outflow of funds from rural savers to urban borrowers.

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