Chinese tariffs shake up U.S. pecan market

As pecan growers across Texas face the challenge of harvesting crops in wet conditions, they are also facing another challenge. In July, as the nation’s farmers and ranchers were impacted by the unjustified retaliatory tariffs imposed on this country by China, the U.S. pecan industry was hit with a 47-percent tariff by the Chinese government. Cameron Ocker, orchard manager for Bar D River Ranch Pecans near Falls City, said the tariff “has taken perhaps the industry’s largest buying power out of the market arena.” He said that a large part of his crop — for the past 10 years — has been China. “Less buyers means less demand and no competition with our domestic buyers,” Ocker said. “This has stalled and softened the market and put downward pressure on prices we receive at farm.”...MORE