Monday, October 22, 2018

As trade war rages, more farmers seek big operating loans

Economic pain from the trade war with China may have spurred an uptick in U.S. farmers seeking operating and equipment loans of at least $1 million in the third quarter of 2018, according to Nathan Kauffman, lead economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Non-real estate farm loans were up more than 30 percent from this time last year, the highest such rise in 16 years.

"The increase in the size of loans also boosted the share of agricultural lending at large banks, adding potential risk to their loan portfolios as lenders are concerned about the longer-term impact of the U.S.-China trade war on their farmer customers," P.J. Huffstutter reports for Reuters.

Many farmers with such loans are struggling to repay them. "Delinquency rates on farm real-estate loans through the second quarter of 2018, the latest data available, ticked higher across the United States," Huffstutter reports. "Farm real-estate loan delinquencies for that quarter were also higher than the rate of delinquencies on all bank loans for the first time in nearly 20 years."

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