US trade war dominates agenda at China’s premier soybean conference as American imports plummet
- Industry insiders are eyeing increasing domestic output and imports from Russia to fill gaps left by shrinking imports from the United States
- Over 800 delegates attended the fourth edition of the China Soybean Industry International Summit Forum in Harbin, Heilongjiang province
China’s trade war with the United States was the biggest theme at a soybean industry gathering attended by over 800 growers, traders and officials in the city of Harbin in Heilongjiang province last week, with tariffs seriously disrupting the flow of agricultural products between the two countries.
“In the thousands of years of Chinese history, soybeans have never been so closely watched by the whole world and by state leaders in various countries as they have today,” China Soybean Association president Yang Baolong, who is also chairman of the state-owned Heilongjiang Agriculture Investment Corporation, told the fourth annual China Soybean Industry International Summit Forum.
“Soybeans are only a symbol, and we have to protect ourselves during the war … the nature of the China-US trade tensions is a contest between big powers.”
In the thousands of years of Chinese history, soybeans have never been so closely watched by the whole world and by state leaders in various countries as they have today