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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
China’s demand for corn remains strong and the U.S. continues to ship millions of tons of the grain there, but Brazil is chipping away at that trade and the South American ag giant shows no sign of slowing its advance.
Chinese importers closed contracts to buy 720,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans – most of it for new crop – according to a USDA announcement Thursday, signaling the country is calculating the growing tightness of Brazilian supplies and locking in deliveries past September.
China is continuing to live up to its purchase promises under the “phase one” trade deal, buying up 567,000 metric tons of U.S. corn, according to new export sales announced Friday by the USDA. Most of it — 504,000 tons — is for delivery in the 2020-21 marketing year, while 63,000 tons are for delivery in the current 2019-20 marketing year.
Much attention has been focused of late on the implications for Latin America of the US-China trade war, including in the agricultural sector, where Brazil has seemingly benefitted from growing demand for its abundant soy. Recent tariffs have pushed China to intensify trading with Latin America, contributing to the expectation that Brazil will become the leading soybean exporter for 2019-20, a distinction previously held by the US.