Overview

• Chinese buyers have not booked any U.S. soybeans for the new season, compared with 12 million to 13 million tons secured by this point last year, according to traders.
• Wall Street Journal reporting indicates Chinese buyers are effectively withholding purchases unless U.S. tariffs are rolled back, using access to the market as leverage.
• Prices have slumped near $9 a bushel as a high-yield harvest meets few buyers, and Minnesota growers traveled to Washington to seek a bailout and signal mounting storage risks.
• The pullback is rippling through suppliers, with John Deere reporting about $300 million in losses so far this year, 238 layoffs in Midwest plants, and a 15%–20% drop in large machinery purchases.
• Industry groups warn many farmers face losses of roughly $100 per acre and are urging support to develop replacement markets and expand domestic uses such as biodiesel and soybean-based paving.