Despite a run of record soybean harvests in the U.S., surging demand from China and other importers is expected to cause the U.S. stockpile to drop below the previous year’s level for the first time in three years, Bloomberg reports. “Since 2005, China’s imports of the commodity have more than tripled, and it now buys more than 60 percent of the world’s exports,” the news service says. “The demand is primarily driven by its livestock sector as a growing middle class consumes more meat.”
The current U.S. soybean crop is expected to be another record-setter. The USDA will update its crop forecasts today. Brazil is forecast to be the world’s leading soybean exporter in the current season, shipping 57.2 million metric tons, ahead of the U.S.’s 48.9 million, the USDA said last month.
But Daniel Basse, president of AgResource Co., a Chicago-based industry researcher, told Bloomberg: “The U.S. will be the main source for soybeans from now through Valentine’s Day because of crop problems in Brazil from hot, dry weather and flooding in Argentina.”