grain trade

China Wants to Stop Buying U.S. Soybeans

Dan Exports/Imports, Industry News Release, Soybeans, Trade

The biggest move by China against the U.S. in the tit-for-tat trade war could be a movement towards abandoning U.S. soybeans. China, facing a potential shortage following its 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans, is already purchasing from other suppliers and proposing to cut the amount of soybeansprotein used in livestock feeds.

CNN reports that one of China’s top feed industry groups proposed animals could get by with less than needed protein “at the moment.” The proposal would be hard to carry out for China, as millions of farmers would need to reduce the amount of foreign soybeans eaten by their pigs.

China is also encouraging its domestic agriculture to produce more soybeans, but analysts say China is a long way from being able to produce anywhere near enough. Still, any shift in the market away from the U.S. poses great harm to U.S. producers as the United States sold more than $12 billion worth of soybeans to China last year.

Source: National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.