American Farm Bureau supports free trade with Oman
American Farm Bureau
American Farm Bureau Supports Free Trade with Oman
12 December 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 12, 2005 - Even though Oman is a relatively small market for U.S. agricultural exports, several factors - including an increasing population and rising per-capita income - make it an attractive export market for the United States, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
The AFBF board of directors voted today to support a proposed free trade agreement with the Middle Eastern nation.
The few bulk commodities the Unites States is currently exporting to Oman, such as corn and wheat, face moderate tariffs and competition from alternative suppliers, specifically the European Union and India. From 2000 through 2004, the United States exported an average of $16 million per year of agricultural products to Oman.
If approval of the Oman FTA results in even a modest increase in U.S. agricultural products’ share of the Oman market - from less than 1 percent currently to 20 percent - annual U.S. agricultural exports could increase by $225 million.
According to AFBF, those gains would come at very little, if any, cost to the United States agricultural sector, since Oman appears near its production maximum due to its arid climate and limited availability of arable land.
The United States imported an average of less than $1.5 million of agricultural products per year from Oman between 2000 and 2004. The proposed FTA specifically prevents Oman from importing commodities from a third country and then exporting them to the United States and assures that any Oman exports are the product of Oman agricultural production.
Under the agreement, Oman would be the fifth Middle Eastern nation, joining Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Bahrain, to have a negotiated free trade agreement with the United States. According to AFBF, while “the impact of this free trade agreement on the United States agricultural sector may be small, it will put us in a better position to compete in the marketplace with the EU and other countries.”
