A Year After China Stopped U.S. Soybean Purchases, U.S. Farmers Look to Other Asian Markets

A year after China began halting its purchases of U.S. soybeans, and as trade negotiations continue to drag on, U.S. farmers are looking to other Asian markets to sell their beans.

Larger shipments to other markets such as Pakistan have helped, but have not been enough to move the needle, and U.S. soybean prices remain well below pre-trade war levels.

Using funds from the $12 billion government aid package created to mitigate the damage to U.S. farming from the trade war, the U.S. soybean industry hosted importers from other Asian countries, including India, South Korea, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan who toured through North and South Dakota, and visited ports across the Northwest to learn about the U.S. supply chain.

Senior director of soy marketing for the U.S. Soybean Export Council noted that the U.S. may never regain the Chinese market, which accounts for two thirds of global trade, adding that the U.S. would need 100 percent of every other market outside of China in order to sell down its stocks and move the market.

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