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As a result of continued economic weakness in Asian and European countries, U.S. exports of cocoa and cocoa products to all countries are forecast to decline in 1998/99 to $375 million. U.S. exports of cocoa and products during October-July 1998/99 were $312.4 million, a decline of 9 percent from the same period in 1997/98. The value of shipments to Canada declined by 4 percent in October-July 1998/99 from the same period in 1997/98. Exports to Canada reached a record million $205.6 in 1996/97. Shipments to Australia are less than half the value of exports during the same 10-month period in 1997/98. On the positive side, exports to Mexico are up 13 percent, and exports to the Philippines have more than doubled in value compared to the same period a year earlier. Shipments to the EU during October-July 1998/99 are forecast at $9.7 million, down substantially from the same period a year earlier when shipments reached $22.8 million. Although shipments for the first 10 months of 1998/99 are down considerably to Finland, Belgium-Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom, exports to Germany, France and the Netherlands are, as a group, 45 percent above the 1997/98 level. Exports to Finland dropped from $9.3 million in October-July 1997/98 to $27,494 for the same period in 1998/99. U.S. exports to most Asian markets continued to decline during the October-July 1998/99 period. China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand all posted year-to-year declines, but Korea and Singapore were up 4 and 44 percent, respectively. Shipments to Russia and the Ukraine during the October-July 1997/98 period were down 7 and 42 percent, respectively.
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