The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service has proposed the addition of pork and distillers dried grain (DDG) to a list of commodities for which weekly export sales are reported.

The FAS said "the proposal is aimed at improving market transparency and enabling commodity markets to better adjust to changing export activity." The proposed rule would make information such as the volume of sales and shipments available within two weeks compared with a nearly two-month lag in the actual exports data as currently reported by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.

"Adding pork and DDGs to the Export Sales Reporting Requirements would improve market transparency and enable commodity markets to better adjust to changing export activity," Suzanne Heinen, FAS acting administrator, said in a release.

If approved, the rule would require all exporters of U.S. pork and DDG to report on a weekly basis information on the sales to the FAS.

The agency will review comments received on or before May 7 concerning the proposed rule. A call made to FAS requesting further information regarding an effective date of the proposed rule hasn't yet been returned.

-By Curt Thacker, Dow Jones Newswires; 913-322-5178; curt.thacker@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 12, 2012 11:52 ET (15:52 GMT)