USDA Launches Agribusiness Trade Mission to Morocco
<div class=\"default-font-wrapper\" style=\"line-height: 1;font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;\"><div style=\"line-height: 1;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;\">U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service Administrator Daniel Whitley arrived in Casablanca today to begin a USDA-sponsored agribusiness trade mission. Whitley is leading a delegation of nearly 50 U.S. agribusinesses and trade groups and 14 state departments of agriculture to expand U.S. farm and food exports to Morocco and other West African markets. <br id=\"isPasted\"><br>"I am honored to lead this delegation to Casablanca as we work to strengthen vital connections, grow U.S. agricultural exports, and showcase the broad array of products American agriculture has to offer," said Whitley.<br><br>Morocco is the second-largest export market for U.S. agriculture in Africa. U.S. sales of farm and food products to the country topped $619 million last year, representing 16 percent of U.S. exports to the continent. American agricultural exports to Morocco have doubled since the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement entered into force in 2006.<br><br>Morocco offers a stable market and growing economy and serves as a key distribution hub for the African continent. The country is already a major importer of bulk and intermediate commodities from the United States and its expanding food processing sector and rising consumer demand are creating new potential for sales of consumer-oriented products. U.S. exporters have opportunities in numerous sectors, including beef, dairy, feed grains, live animals and genetics, rice, seafood, seed potatoes, soybeans, and tree nuts.<br><br></span></div></div>