China bought $12.6bn in US soybeans in '24. Now, it's $0

Each week, the Agriculture Department publishes a summary of the latest exports of American crops.

- KEVIN DRAPER

Soybeans are loaded on a truck at a farm near Kulm, North Dakota, on Sept 4.

Lately, they have all been missing the same thing: The sale of soybeans to China.

Soybeans are the single largest American export to China in terms of value, $12.6 billion worth last year. But as the fall harvest gets underway across the country — 9% of planted beans had been harvested as of last week — the country that bought 52% of all US soybean exports last year is completely absent.

Sept 1 was the beginning of the new marketing year for soybeans, the starting point for big sales. Instead, China hasn’t bought any American soybeans since May.

The cause is retaliatory tariffs China has placed on the United States, making the price of US soybeans unattractive for buyers there. Throughout the summer, farmers hoped the Trump administration and China would reach a trade agreement that would drop the tariff on their crops, but so far, no relief was forthcoming.