Trade Wars & Impending Death of American Soy

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 6/20/2018 04:21:00 PM
 
There's a saying that you get the leaders you deserve, and it seems American soybean farmers have voted to put themselves out of business.  Overwhelmingly carrying states where soybean farmers are located, Trump is hellbent on rewarding his voters with economic misfortune. Given Trump's radically anti-China campaign rhetoric, let's say this turn of events is of no surprise to no one. What's more, the export of soybeans was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal agricultural industry:
Soybean-producing counties went for Trump by a margin of more than 12 percent, according to a Washington Post analysis...

Like most large-scale soybean farms in the United States, [this] business relies heavily on foreign markets. China buys 60 percent of all U.S. soybean exports to feed a growing fleet of hogs, fish and chicken.

The high demand has made soybeans a bright spot of profitability for farmers at a time when many other crop prices are down. But Trump’s aggressive tariffs against Chinese goods, meant to protect U.S. intellectual property and manufacturing interests, have incited retaliatory actions that farmers say threaten their profits.
In recent days, the price of soybeans has dropped precipitously, probably causing no small amount of concern for the folks who voted for Trump to punish themselves:
Soybean futures for July delivery dropped more than 7 percent to a low of $8.415 a bushel, their lowest since March 2009, according to Thomson Reuters. They were trading near $8.64 a bushel as of 11 a.m. ET. There are a lot of "unknowns and no confidence," said Rich Nelson, director of research at Allendale, an agricultural market research and trading firm...

With Tuesday's late morning sell-off, soybean prices are now more than 17 percent lower for the quarter and down more than 10 percent for the year..."The dramatic drop today is soybeans because soybeans is first and foremost what the Chinese like to buy from us," said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at The Price Futures Group.
As a mainly export-driven industry selling to the Chinese, the future of soybean farming has been cast in doubt despite the trade making sense on paper. But, who says logic matters during a trade war as belligerents seek to one-up each other in harming themselves?
But that situation only holds in the short term. Yes, as the world’s top buyer, China needs U.S. soybeans today, in a few months, and likely even next year. However, it is not unreasonable for China eventually to wane itself off American beans in the longer term, which could have detrimental and irreversible effects on U.S. markets...

On paper, a soybean trade war involving the United States and China makes no sense for either party. China imports roughly 100 million tonnes of soybeans each year, primarily from Brazil and the United States, which together produce 70 percent of the global supply.

Simple math demonstrates that under the current structure, China cannot avoid U.S. soybeans right now if it is to meet its import schedule. And besides, why would China want to pay more for a product it clearly needs? Why would the United States threaten its No. 2 export (behind aircraft) to the East Asian country? But logic apparently matters not in this case, as these are the choices that have ultimately been made under the decision to proceed with the tariff tit-for-tat, and potentially a full-on trade war.
When they chalk up the demise of the American soybean industry years from now, it will come down to one word: "Trump". Having voted for him in the first place, soybean farmers will have no one to blame but themselves.

UPDATE: Using the familiar computable general equilibrium model GTAP, researchers at Purdue University estimate Chinese soybean imports from the United States can drop up to 71% if 30% tariffs are applied. Currently, Chinese authorities have indicated a 25% tariff. Not far off...