Major agricultural export prices declined in 2023

The export price indexes for wheat, soybeans, and corn—three major U.S. agricultural products—fell from December 2022 to December 2023. Export wheat prices decreased 23.4 percent, the largest calendar-year drop since the index fell 27.2 percent in 2015. Prices for export soybeans also recorded their largest calendar-year decline since 2015, falling 13.0 percent over the past 12 months. Meanwhile, the 26.8-percent decrease in export corn prices in 2023 was the largest calendar-year drop since 2013.

Compared to a decade earlier, prices for these three agricultural exports declined and remained at lower levels for several years before turning up in 2020. By mid-2021 each index had rebounded and continued to rise before beginning to trend downward midway through the following year. In December 2023, export wheat and soybean prices were 94.2 percent and 96.7 percent, respectively, of their levels 10 years earlier, while export corn prices were 104.1 percent of their December 2013 level.

Crude oil prices, which declined 6.0 percent in 2023, tend to influence prices for wheat, soybeans, and corn. The three agricultural export price indexes often trend together, driven not only by crude oil, but also by weather, substitutability, and the value of the U.S. dollar. For more information, see The relationship between crude oil prices and export prices of major agricultural commodities.

These data are from the International Price program and are not seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see “U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes — December 2023." We also have more charts on U.S. import and export prices. Import and export price changes may be revised in each of the 3 months after original publication.