WASHING TON: Chinese imports of U.S. soybeans fell by 25 percent in February compared with the same month a year earlier as Brazil’s bumper crop displaced U.S. farmer supply, customs data showed. China imported 5.42 million mt of soybeans in February, with the U.S. taking a 3.345 million mt market share versus 1.75 million mt from Brazil.
Those figures compare to a year earlier when the U.S. exported 4.4 million mt versus Brazilian supply of 687,000 mt and show that the U.S. is losing market share following Brazil’s record crop of 114 million mt last year. The announcement also comes at a time of tense trade relations between the U.S. and China.
Over the weekend, Reuters reported that China’s former finance minister said the government should act against U.S. soybean imports as retaliation for proposed taxes on $60 billion worth of Chinese goods.
And in a separate statement, Xinhua news agency reported that China’s top trade minister Vice-Premier Liu spoke by phone to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to warn him that “China is prepared to defend its national interests.”
