"2000 was not a great year for poultry, and a lot of it had to do with weakness in some major export markets," Anderson says. "2001 was a better year for foreign sales, and the big question for 2002 will be how big an impact the Russian ban on poultry imports had on us."
Increased demand for all types of meat in the last several years also has helped the poultry industry.
Forestry maintained its No. 2 ranking. Value appears to have dropped 10 percent to $1.12 billion, primarily on weaker prices. Final 2001 figures will be available in mid-May.
"This is caused by large supplies, both domestic and foreign," Anderson said. "Imports from Canada increased in 2001, but there was also a lot of domestic production of timber."
Cotton is the state's largest row crop and third in production value at $438 million, down almost 9 percent from 2000 because of what Anderson characterized as "unbelievably low" prices.
"Cotton acres were the highest they've been in decades, and we had a phenomenally good year of production over most of the state. Worldwide, we have a huge oversupply of cotton, and the demand has been declining in recent years," Anderson says. "I don't look for it to get better any time soon."
Soybean value held steady as higher production compensated for lower prices. Corn increased more than 40 percent, but that increase was from a very low value of production in 2000.
Catfish dropped 13 percent in value even though total pounds produced in 2001 was up 1 million to 381 million pounds. Price per pound live weight was 74 cents in 2000, but dropped to 63 cents a pound last year. 2002 prices have dropped even further.
"That's the story right there–that 11 cents a pound drop in price," Anderson says. "Then the Vietnamese imports hurt price on top of increased domestic production of catfish."
Anderson says cattle's 4 percent decline was a reflection of a low point in the normal cattle market cycle. Hogs increased 17 percent on both higher production and prices. DBJ