CHICAGO—China’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. soybeans, threatened for weeks and enacted on July 6, have driven down prices and triggered a wave of bargain shopping by importers in other countries who are stocking up on cheap U.S. supplies, according to a Reuters analysis of government data.
Chinese buyers have so far this year accounted for just 17 percent of all advanced purchases of the fall U.S. soybean harvest—down from an average of 60 percent over the past decade, the analysis found. They are instead loading up on Brazilian soybeans, which now sell at a premium of up to $1.50 a bushel as U.S. soybean futures have fallen 17 percent over six weeks to about $8.50, their lowest level in nearly a decade.
