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USSEC discusses China’s small tariff cut on US soybeans

The CEO of the US Soybean Export Council says the news that China will cut tariffs on some US goods shows that there’s progress in implementing the phase one trade agreement.

But, Jim Sutter says the impact on US soybeans will likely be small.  

“From a practical standpoint in the case of soybeans going from roughly 30 percent import duty down to 27.5 percent, that in and of itself is not enough to create a big buying wave of soybeans,” he says.

He says Beijing has continued to offer tariff waivers on some imports of soybeans, which has been seed as a good faith measure.

“The soybeans China has been purchasing— those were being done with tariff waivers and the government of China would issue to specific importers or crushers,” he says. “I think that’s what it’s going to take to get purchases going in the future.”

Like many in the agriculture industry, Sutter says USSEC is closely watching the coronavirus.

“Our first concern is we have a team in China and our concern is with those people and with all the many, many people in China,” he says. But then of course it can clearly have an impact on demand”  

Sutter says USSEC would like to see China remove all tariffs on soybeans.

Audio: Jim Sutter, US Soybean Export Council