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China’s hunger for US ag goods steals the show in 2021

China continues to dominate much of the US ag industry’s story, and 2021 was no exception. 

But, China’s part of the ag story this year wasn’t soybeans and pork like many might expect.  It was China’s purchases of US corn and beef that stole the show.  David Widmar is an ag economist and co-founder of Agricultural Economic Insights. 

“China is on past right now to purchase some around $35-billion of products in the calendar year,” he says. “This is important because 29 billion is the record. Back in 2012 we almost got to 29 billion again in 2020.” 

And he tells Brownfield – that’s not even the biggest part of that story. 

“China is on past right now to purchase some around 35 billion dollars of products in the calendar year,’ he says. “This is important because 29 billion is the record. Back in 2012 we almost got to 29 billion again in 2020.” 

However, China will likely miss its Phase 1 purchase targets and says uncertainty will linger as there is no clear path to what happens next.