A barge loads on the Mississippi River. American soybeans aren’t moving to China, even though they are price competitive with Brazil.

China soybean imports set for biggest drop in 12 years amid tariff conflict

China is not expected to face a shortfall in supplies because of abundant domestic reserves

Reuters – China’s soybean imports are set to drop by a quarter in the last three months of 2018, their biggest fall in at least 12 years as buyers curb purchases amid the China-U.S. trade war and high domestic stockpiles. Soybeans have been at the heart of the tit-for-tat trade dispute between the world’s top […] Read more

(Mark Wilson photo courtesy Louis Dreyfus Co.)

U.S.-China trade fears halt soybean imports

Singapore/Beijing | Reuters — China’s purchases of U.S. soybeans have come to a grinding halt, trade and industry sources say, as fears of further action by Beijing to curb imports of U.S. crops following last week’s anti-dumping move on sorghum rattles the agriculture industry. Buyers from China, which takes 60 per cent of soybeans traded […] Read more


Photo: Thinkstock

Brazil cuts into U.S. soybean market share in China

Reuters – Brazil is expected to win a larger share of China’s soybean imports in coming months, hitting U.S. exporters during the peak marketing season for their most valuable farm product as the world grapples with a fifth consecutive bumper crop. China is expected to buy about five million tonnes of soybeans from Brazil for […] Read more






Equatorial sea surface temperatures (SSTs) have run above average for the past four weeks, the U.S. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center noted Monday. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

El Nino has emerged, Asia braces for crop damage

Singapore | Reuters –– In 2009, the El Nino brought the worst drought in four decades to India. It razed wheat fields in Australia and damaged crops across Asia. Food prices surged. A closely watched forecast by Japan on Tuesday confirmed its return this year. A strong El Nino will roil economies that are heavily […] Read more