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AFB economist: Trade disputes mean lost export sales, hurt farmers

The latest USDA data says through June 28, more than 5 million metric tons of soybean sales to China have been lost because of trade disputes. American Farm Bureau Federation economist Veronica Nigh says the resulting $2 loss in soybean futures prices has hit farmers hard.

“We don’t necessarily know in advance that these trade actions are coming,” Nigh told Brownfield Ag News, “and so it’s really hard to plan in advance for sales and unfortunately be caught in a pretty negative price situation.”

If the U.S. ships the remaining 772 million metric tons in outstanding sales to China for the the current marketing year, which Nigh considers unlikely, the U.S. will be more than 23 percent behind last marketing year.

Nigh tells Brownfield the dispute is hurting the U.S. in the eyes of other trading partners.

“Over time, we’ll find that the U.S. is not the supplier of choice in other markets the way we are today,” she said.

Nigh says blame for the dispute is difficult to place.  “It takes two to tango,” said Nigh, “and it’ll take two to resolve these issues.”

AUDIO: Veronica Nigh (10 Min. MP3)