China has cancelled orders for U.S. soybeans amid an overall decline in exports to that country, leading to fears in the Midwest of what could happen with its biggest market, reports AgWeek.
The U.S. and China have been levying tariffs on each other’s trade goods in recent months. Soybeans are among the U.S. staples scheduled to face the Chinese tariffs.
AgWeek cites Descartes Datamyne trade data indicating U.S. soybean shipments to China are down so far in the first quarter of 2018, as compared to the previous three years in terms of the number of 20-foot equivalent shipping containers, or TEUs: 6,012 TEUs shipped to China from January 1 through April 17 this year, compared with 9,496 in first-quarter 2017, 8,134 in 2016, and 7,991 in 2015.