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China outpaces Mexico, Japan in purchasing commodities in 2021

China’s purchasing power of U.S. commodities has put them ahead of Mexico and Japan at the close of the 2020-21 marketing year.

“They were barely in the market a year ago.” Nebraska Corn Board Executive Director Kelly Brunkhorst tells Brownfield.

He says the Chinese purchased more commodities than Mexico and Japan combined. “It creates some unique opportunities in regards to demand and support for our price,” he says. “But it creates some uncertainty whether it will be at that level in the future.”

While the Phase One trade agreement will expire at the end of 2021, he says there will be export opportunities for Chinese hogs and poultry. “How do we be the feed source for that?” he says. “It’s continuing those conversations with them and better understanding where they want to go in that self-sufficiency and how we can be that feed stock for that self-sufficiency and livestock need.”

Brunkhorst spoke with Brownfield at the Yeutter Institute’s Why Trade Policy Matters: International Trade and the American Farmer panel Friday at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.