China is currently considering buying a large volume of soybeans from the United States. From an economic perspective, this is not a profitable decision for China. The reason is that soybeans from Brazil are much cheaper during this period. However, importing soybeans from the U.S. would result in higher costs for China. For example, if China buys 8 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans, it is estimated that the country would have to spend about 400 million dollars more compared to purchasing from Brazil.
In addition, China imposes a higher tariff (around 13%) on U.S. soybeans, while Brazilian soybeans are subject to a lower tariff (around 3%). Because of this, private oil mills are not interested in buying U.S. soybeans. Therefore, it is said that the purchases may be carried out mainly through Chinese state-owned companies such as Sinograin and COFCO, while private companies have preferred Brazil and Argentina.
However, from a political perspective, this decision could be significant. With Donald Trump’s visit to China scheduled for April, analysts say that China may buy larger quantities of U.S. soybeans to please him and to secure certain trade concessions from the United States. Therefore, experts explain that this is not purely an economic decision, but one driven by political calculations.
