The Department of Agriculture in the USA expects the value of U.S. farm exports to drop by $1.9 billion this year, initiated by a steep decline in exports to China because of an ongoing trade dispute.
Trade negotiators from China and the USA were working to a March 1 deadline to resolve their trade dispute.
“The share of total U.S. agricultural exports to China in value terms is projected to be 6 percent, down sharply, with China falling from the top market in 2017 to fifth place,” the USDA Chief Economist Robert Johansson said in Washington.
The United States had exported 24 million metric tonnes of soybeans in the 2019 crop year, down 13.5 million metric tonnes from last year.
“Under the trade dispute, exports to China alone have plummeted by 22 million tonnes, or over 90 percent,” the Chief Economist said.
Exports of U.S. soybeans to the European Union, Eqypt, Argentina, and others had risen, but that has “not been enough to make up for the lost exports to China.”
The soybean harvest in South America would make exports cheaper in the rest of the marketing year, which would reduce the prospects for an export recovery, he said.