Coronavirus: US farm sales to China hit by bumper soybean crop from Brazil, supply chain disruptions

Export sales of US soybeans to China have been hit by the coronavirus and competition from Brazil, new data and analysts say

This is hampering China’s guarantee to buy more US agricultural products over the next two years as part of the phase one trade deal

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The US has struggled to increase its sales of soybeans and pork to China in recent months, despite commitments from Beijing in the phase one trade deal. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 6:01pm, 24 Apr 2020Updated: 10:57pm, 24 Apr 2020

The coronavirus pandemic and strong foreign competition are obstructing a US push to increase sales of farm products to China, even as Washington banks on Beijing buying more of its agricultural goods as part of the phase one trade deal signed in January.

While analysts say the pandemic has not affected soybean shipments from the United States, cheaper beans from Brazil have made them less competitive. The South American country is also benefiting from its largest harvest on record.

US pork exports, meanwhile, have been hit from coronavirus-related supply chain disruptions, forcing cuts to production capacity.

China is exploring ways to accelerate purchases of farm products such as soybeans by asking state-owned firms to buy them for government reserves, Bloomberg and trade publication Agribusiness reported, citing unidentified sources.

US pork and soybean farmers had high hopes of increasing their exports to China after Beijing waived a 25 per cent tariff on the American products, which was imposed in July 2018 as a countermeasure to tariffs levied by Washington in the first days of the trade war.

But new data shows that any gains made late last year have tailed off.

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