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estimated, based on a 1991 survey of its overseas posts, that 

 over one-third of its overseas staff resources were devoted to 

 reporting. However, much of its reporting is put to little use. 

 We believe that FAS can better utilize its resources by 

 significantly reducing such reporting, thereby allowing its 

 overseas attaches more time to devote to developing markets for 

 U.S. commodities and to engage in trade policy activities. 



FAS' overseas attaches submit about 2,300 scheduled commodity 

 reports a year from around the world. The reports are intended 

 to support USDA programs and to assist FAS in its trade policy 

 work. In addition, the reports are used to prepare commodity 

 circulars that provide the U.S. agricultural industry with 

 information about competition and demand for U.S. farm products. 



However, not all of the commodity reporting is useful to either 

 USDA or the U.S. agricultural industry. For example, FAS 

 requires comprehensive reports on honey from seven of its 

 overseas posts. These reports are used primarily to inform U.S. 

 honey producers about potential exports from foreign countries to 

 the United States. Nearly all the honey producers we spoke to 

 said they have other sources of information that they rely on to 

 monitor foreign competition in the U.S. market. Moreover, the 

 honey reports play virtually no role in increasing U.S. exports, 

 partly because FAS does not report on the honey situation in many 

 of the U.S. export markets. 



FAS also spends significant resources reporting on coffee from 

 around the world, even though the United States exports virtually 

 no U.S. -grown coffee. FAS says that reporting on world coffee 

 production services U.S. coffee roasters and helps smooth out 

 prices. But the roasters we spoke to said they have limited need 

 for USDA's data. They rely more on their trade contacts and on 

 other private sources of information. Many of those involved in 

 coffee trade said that if USDA were to reduce its coffee 



