After six months of tit-for-tat tariffs between China and the United States, American soybean growers called for a speedy end to the trade war on Monday. “This has been a long and costly half-year for farmers and we need stability returned to this market. We cannot withstand another six months,” said Kentucky farmer Davie Stephens, president of the American Soybean Association.
U.S. and Chinese officials are holding trade talks in Beijing this week, with hopes of progress toward a binational agreement by March. “Certainly, agriculture is high on the list of issues they’re going to be discussing this week,” said Dave Salmonsen of the American Farm Bureau Federation, interviewed on the Adams on Agriculture program.
In the past, China was the No. 1 market for U.S. farm exports, including $14 billion of soybeans in 2017. Sales plunged in 2018 when the tariffs took effect. The Soybean Association says future sales are in jeopardy because of the trade war.
China recently purchased as much as 33 million bushels of U.S. soybeans, said Reuters on Monday, citing two unidentified traders. The cargo would be worth $304 million at current prices. It was the third large purchase of U.S. soy in the past month totaling around 184 million bushels, said the news agency, but a fraction of China’s usual purchases of around 1.1 billion bushels a year and the record 4.6 billion bushels of soybeans harvested by U.S. growers in 2018.