Soybean Exports Surged, Shifted in Q2

U. S. soybean exports surged in the second quarter, delivering an outsize boon to economic growth even as China shifted much of its sourcing to Brazil.

From the first week of April through the fourth week of June, U.S. soybean exports to Egypt nearly quadrupled from a year ago. Exports to Vietnam and Taiwan tripled, and exports to the Netherlands doubled. Shipments to several other Asian countries rose by 20 percent or more.

Exports to China, the world’s largest consumer, fell 21 percent in the same period, the USDA said.

In May, the first full month after China announced its plan to target U.S. soybeans with tariffs, Brazilian soybean exports to China rose 17 percent from a year earlier. Brazilian shipments in June were 25 percent higher than a year ago.

U.S. farmers are hardly celebrating the new markets. China’s announcement of retaliatory tariffs on April 4 came months after a bumper U.S. soybean crop last year, and the two factors sent prices from about $10.50 a bushel earlier this year to about $8.50 in recent weeks.

The average soybean farmer breaks even at about $9.50 a bushel, said John Heisdorffer, an Iowa grower who serves as president of the American Soybean Association. “Farmers are now well into the red,” he said.

Source: Wall Street Journal