EU imports of US soybeans doubled

In Germany, UFOP reports that following China’s ban on U.S. soybeans, the U.S. has been in need of new buyers. The EU-28 benefits from this situation as its imports of US soybeans have multiplied.

The EU-28 has always depended on oilseed imports from third countries, because EU demand exceeds EU production by around 30 per cent. Above all, soybeans are in strong demand, as they have hardly been produced in the EU-28 to date. In the first half of the 2018/19 marketing year, the EU-28 imported 6.95 million tonnes of soybeans from third countries. This was up 12 per cent from the year-earlier period. The US remained the main supplier, with volumes jumping to 5.2 million tonnes (previous year: 2.3 million tonnes) this season. In other words, three quarters of EU soybean imports came from the US, Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft mbH (AMI) has reported.

The prime reason for the strong rise in shipments from the US is the trade war between the US and China, according to UFOP. In response to the import tariffs the US unilaterally imposed on Chinese products, China imposed tariffs on US soybean imports.