March 17, 2000

The Austin-based bank and 13 Federal Land Bank Associations, three Federal Land Credit Associations and 12 Production Credit Associations comprise the Tenth Farm Credit District, which provides rural mortgage financing and agricultural loans in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas.

In its 1999 year-end financial report, the bank announced record loan volume of $4.8 billion at Dec. 31, 1999. This is an increase of $272.6 million, or 6 percent, from year-end 1998 loan volume of $4.5 billion. It was the eighth consecutive year that the bank reported loan volume growth.

The increase occurred in the bank’s mortgage portfolio, which totaled nearly $4 billion at year-end 1999, up $311.1 million, or 8.5 percent, from the previous year.

Short- and intermediate-term loan volume totaled $816.6 million at Dec. 31, 1999. This represents a decrease of $38.5 million, or 4.5 percent, from year-end 1998 and is due largely to poor crop conditions, low agricultural commodity prices, commodity surpluses and reduced agricultural exports in 1999.

Loan credit quality remained strong, with overall acceptable credit quality for the district at 96.6 percent at Dec. 31, 1999, compared to 96.2 percent a year earlier.

"In spite of poor farming conditions and weak commodity markets that affected individual borrowers, 1999 was another outstanding year for the Tenth Farm Credit District. We attribute this solid financial performance to competitive loan pricing, brisk demand for real estate, improved livestock prices and a robust general economy," said Arnold Henson, FCBT chief executive officer.

The bank and associations reported combined net income of $81.8 million in 1999, up $1.6 million from the $80.2 million reported for 1998. Combined net interest income of $187 million for 1999 reflects a $5.3 million increase over the previous year and is attributed to loan volume growth. Total members’ equity in the financing cooperative increased to $986.4 million at Dec. 31, 1999, from $971 million a year earlier.

USDA chief economist Keith Collins said in a prepared speech to the USDA’s annual outlook forum that the increase reflects stronger-than-expected cotton and livestock exports.

USDA said it did not factor in a recent promise to donate an additional 3 million metric tons of food to countries in need. About three-quarters of that package would include wheat and wheat flour.

USDA increased its forecast for total agricultural export volume for fiscal 2000 to 109.7 million tons, up from the previous projection of 109.4 million tons.

According to figures just released by USDA, U.S. beef exports in 1999 were valued at more than $3.2 billion, up 14 percent from 1998. The top three export markets were Japan, Mexico and South Korea.