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Missouri Soybean CEO: China trade talks a work on progress

The chief executive of Missouri Soybean says regaining soybean market share with China will not happen overnight. Gary Wheeler tells Brownfield he’s encouraged that President Trump has signaled continued talks with China, but he says ending the dispute will take patience.

“None of this is to say that trade relationships have been perfect in the past, they’re not,” Wheeler told Brownfield Ag News Tuesday. “This isn’t something that’s necessarily new, it’s truly a negotiation and it’s a work in progress and we know it.”

The trade interruption with China has resulted in putting more resources into promoting domestic demand and making foreign customers aware of the buying opportunity, said Wheeler.

“It’s at a price point now for some of those countries where they can actually buy and see what type of product that we have coming out of the United States and what type of product’s coming off of our farms,” said Wheeler.

Checkoff investments should include research into increasing soybean meal inclusion rates for livestock and poultry feeds, said Wheeler.