News

USDA chief economist says lack of transparency by China “poses a risk”

USDA’s chief economist says a lack of transparency by China makes projecting U.S. exports difficult. 

During an economic outlook roundtable at the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit in Des Moines Tuesday, Dr. Seth Meyer highlighted strong foreign demand for U.S. corn going back to 2020.

“We kept a lot of our traditional trade partners outside of China, but clearly trade has been a big influence (with) China being a big part of that. And I think we’ll all agree that we’re never quite sure, transparency into the Chinese market is always lacking and therefore it poses a risk.”

He says USDA does try to predict Chinese grain stocks.

“But to be fair, it is difficult to determine. We don’t have full transparency into their marketplace.”

Meyer says another reason China is unpredictable is despite a tariff rate quota on corn of around 7 million tons, the Chinese imported nearly 30 million tons last year but never announced it was raising the TRQ.

Add Comment

Your email address will not be published.


 

Stay Up to Date

Subscribe for our newsletter today and receive relevant news straight to your inbox!