Chinese importers of US soybeans have stopped further purchases for the year, the Financial Times reports, suggesting that one of the feared consequences of the trade disputes between the two countries could be beginning to take effect.
Soren Schroder, chief executive of the world’s largest oilseed trade Bunge, says he believes US sales to China will be “very little if any”. Instead, Schroder adds, “whatever Chinese business is taking place is directed away from the US to Brazil and Canada.”
US soybeans, exports of which to China totalled $12 billion in 2017, were included in the list of products subject to fresh tariffs by the Chinese government after President Trump proposed $50 billion of duties for Chinese tech and manufacturing goods.