The trade war combined with the Chinese tariffs on imports of US soya beans are making their affects visible during the beginning of the soya bean exporting period in the US, as it has seen a 97% decrease in the amount of soya beans it sends to China, BIMCO said.
In the first eight weeks of the 2018/19 marketing year US exports went less by 39%, from 12.2 million tonnes on 26 October 2017 to 7.5 million tonnes on 25 October 2018.
In addition, an increasing proportion of the demand derives from destinations closer to the US, further reducing the overall tonne-mile demand. BIMCO’s Chief Shipping Analyst, Peter Sand noted.
What is more, despite the fact that in the first eight weeks of last marketing year China accounted for 70% of total US soya bean exports, the trade war caused the Asian country to take just 4% of exports this marketing year. This means that the US has seen a 97% decrease in the amount of soya beans it sends to China.
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Mexico has now become the largest importer of US soya beans, as it has received has 785,400 tonnes, an increase of 34% compared to last year. In addition, the rest of the top four importers of US soya beans this season have doubled their imports:
- Spain is in second place with 602,800 tonnes, a 153% increase compared to last year.
- Argentina increased to 508,100 tonnes having not imported any US soya beans at this time last season.
- Egypt is at the last place, as from no imports in the first eight weeks last season, it went to 486,700 tonnes this year.
Finally, Iran was the top imported of US soya beans in August and has been the sixth biggest importer of US soya beans, as it has imported 400,400 tonnes.