Tariffs Impacting U.S. Soybeans

Earlier in the spring, we heard rumors of the United States putting tariffs on goods imported from China. As we know, these tariffs were implemented, and the Chinese showed no hesitation. China announced they would impose a 25% tariff on many U.S. goods imported, and of the most notable to U.S. agriculture was soybeans. These tariffs, along with anticipated record production in the U.S., has hit the grain markets extremely hard. There are major factors weighing heavily on the grain market that could be setting the U.S. up for a major grain market rally.

China has been the biggest buyer of U.S. soybeans and Brazil is currently supplying China with beans, instead of buying from the U.S. Because of this, it has immediately impacted soybean farmers locally with the drop of basis value by forty-cents and future prices dropped over $2 of local cash prices.

The 2018 growing season has been very hard on the U.S. grain farmer and on the commodity markets. It is only a matter of time before China, the biggest buyer of global soybeans, runs out of available beans from South America. With this, it could give the Chinese motivation to work with the U.S. on negotiating trade deals, and off the list of U.S. goods with tariffs imposed upon them.