Chinese Order Some Soy; Long-Term Damage to U.S. Ag Trade Remains

[TexasTowelie]

I learn from KELO Radio that the Chinese say they have ordered “several million tonnes of soybeans” this month… for which they expect tariff exemptions:

The United States has shipped several million tonnes of soybeans to China since the two countries’ leaders met in June, Chinese state media said on Sunday, an apparent sign of goodwill before trade talks in Shanghai this week.

…China has made enquiries to U.S. suppliers for the purchase of soybeans, cotton, pork sorghum and other agricultural products since July 19, and some sales have been made, state broadcaster CCTV said, citing China’s National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce.

“As long as the American agricultural products are reasonably priced and of good quality, it is expected that there will be new purchases,” the report said.

Companies involved in the sales have applied for exclusions to tariffs on agricultural goods with Chinese customs officials, it said [Cate Cadell, “Beijing Says Millions of Tonnes of U.S. Soy Shipped to China in Trade Consensus,” Reuters, 2019.07.28].

Hooray—maybe now Governor Kristi Noem can add China back to the list of Asian markets where Aberdeen’s AGP can ship all of our soybeans.

But don’t get your farm hopes too high. As we were warned, Trump’s reckless trade war has led to long-term shifts in markets that will continue to disadvantage American producers, even if we go back to playing nicely with our global trade partners:

But even without the extra tariffs, U.S. soybeans could not compete with Brazilian supplies on price until at least October, based on current premiums and margins, according to six traders and analysts surveyed by Reuters, making immediate orders unlikely.

“It is hard to see buying of large U.S. shipments (for delivery to China) for the time being,” said Li Qiang, chief analyst with Shanghai JC Intelligence Co Ltd [Hallie Gu and Shivani Singh, “China’s Soybean Crushers in No Rush to Buy from U.S. Despite Beijing Tariff Offer: Sources,” Reuters, 2019.07.24].

The Chinese have quite logically moved away from the unreliable United States to more reliable trade partners like Brazil and the rest of Latin America:

China has overtaken the United States as Brazil’s biggest trading partner, with Brazilian soybeans – one of the country’s biggest exports – and other agricultural products replacing American imports since the start of the US-China trade war a year ago.

…China is now Latin America’s second-biggest trading partner with bilateral trade at US$307.4 billion, growing 18.9 per cent over the previous year, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce, in a relationship focused on commodity imports, including mining products like copper and energy, as well as soybeans and other agricultural goods [Keegan Elmer, “Latin America Trade Grows as China and US Tussle for Influence,” South China Morning Post, 2019.07.28].

Read more: http://dakotafreepress.com/2019/07/28/chinese-order-some-soy-long-term-damage-to-u-s-ag-trade-remains/

[democratisphere]

1. Nice work don the con. So tell me again about the art of the deal.

Probably should be the art of bankruptcy and going broke.

[mitch96]

2. What I don't understand is why we have Chinese soybeans in our food stores??

I like edamame.. I usually pick it up at my local zupermarket. I noticed that most of the soybeans for sale there are imported from CHINA.....WTF??? Why o why does my supermarket get soybeans from CHINA when American farmers are in a hardship b/c they can't sell 'em..
Makes on sense to me...
m