With the soybean harvest season in full swing, American soybean farmers are anxious as their long-time customer China is no longer favoring U.S. soybeans but instead turning to Brazil.

According to Reuters on August 19, American soybean growers sent an open letter that day urging President Trump to quickly reach a trade agreement with China to secure its large-scale purchase of U.S. soybeans. In the letter, the farmers warned that the current cost of planting soybeans in the U.S. is continuously rising, while sales prospects are more bleak than ever. If they cannot reach a soybean procurement agreement with China, the U.S. will suffer serious economic losses.

The report said that due to tense trade relations with the U.S., and since the current trade agreement between the two countries is still under negotiation, China, the world's largest soybean buyer, is turning to buy soybeans from Brazil and other countries. Currently, China has not yet made any arrangements for the upcoming new crop of U.S. soybeans, which has caused great concern among soybean traders and farmers.

"Farmers are facing huge financial pressure. Soybean prices continue to fall, and at the same time, the costs of materials and equipment invested by our farmers for planting soybeans have significantly increased. American soybean farmers cannot afford a long-term trade dispute with our biggest client," the American Soybean Association stated in an open letter to Trump on the 19th.

U.S. soybean farmers checking the growth of soybeans on the field. Reuters

As for how much loss this shift to buying soybeans from Brazil and other countries would bring to the U.S., Reuters reported it as "billions of dollars."

According to data from the American Soybean Association, in the 2023-2024 marketing year, China still purchased 54% of U.S. soybean exports, worth $13.2 billion. However, according to a report by Bloomberg in April this year, Chinese importers purchased at least 2.4 million tons of soybeans from Brazil in one week of that month, which will be shipped between May and July. In recent years, China has continuously promoted the diversification of agricultural imports, and Brazil has rapidly replaced the U.S. as China's largest supplier of soybeans.

What is more bitter for American soybean farmers is that according to official data from China's customs, although China's soybean imports increased again in July compared to last year, the amount of U.S. soybeans imported was only about 15% of the Brazilian soybeans.

Trump had also posted on the social platform "Truth Social" on August 11, urging China to double its purchase of U.S. soybeans. This led to a rise in U.S. soybean prices. However, American soybean farmers have begun to doubt whether the situation of "doubling China's purchase of U.S. soybeans" will actually occur.

"The later we reach an agreement with China on the soybean issue in the fall, the more severe the impact on American soybean farmers will be," the farmers said in their open letter to Trump.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this matter.

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