Corn and hay to China

Corn and hay to China

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
According to Farm Bureau Economist John Newton, there don’t appear to be very hard feelings about Trump led tariffs and tifs regarding agricultural trade policies…at least as it regards corn and soybeans:

“China’s been a very big player in the corn and soybean markets this year. So far, they’ve bought nearly six million metric tons of corn, they’re on the books for more than 11 million metric tons of corn to purchase from the United States, which would be a record. So they’ve been a big player in the corn and soybean markets this year,” said Newton.

The Farm Bureau says the increased trade with China has bolstered market prices for corn and soybeans in the United States.

“I think what we’ve seen is since China’s been such a heavy player in the market, it’s helped to reduce our stockpiles this year and as a result, we’ve seen prices move sharply higher in the last few months. Corn is now sitting at around $5.30, soybeans sitting around $13.50, and that’s up 50-60 percent from where we were back in early August. And a lot of that is on the back of strong trade and export demand,” said Newton.

US and Idaho hay exporters are seeing more interest from China and those sales are up as well.

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