Argentina could lose market share due to Vietnam-US trade deal

Rosario Exchange warns top grain producer Argentina could lose market share due to Vietnam-US trade deal

Progress in US-Vietnam trade talks could significantly reduce Argentina’s significant share of Vietnam’s corn and soybean meal import market, the Rosario Grain Exchange said in a report on Friday.

Argentina is currently Vietnam’s leading grain supplier, accounting for more than 50% of corn imports and 65% of soybean meal imports by value over the past five years, according to the exchange.

The exchange said Vietnam has increasingly turned to US agricultural products to avoid tariffs from President Donald Trump.

Trump has cited a large trade deficit with Vietnam, where multinationals have large production facilities, as motivation for threatening to impose so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on the Asian country.

Vietnam plans to import up to $2 billion in U.S. agricultural products, according to the exchange, and local companies have signed deals with American counterparts worth an initial $800 million to purchase U.S. corn, soybean meal, wheat and distillers grains, the exchange said.

The exchange noted that such a pivot to the U.S. threatens Argentina’s dominant status as a supplier of soybean meal and corn to Vietnam, which could have implications for Argentina’s position in other key export markets.

Argentina is the world’s largest supplier of soybean oil and meal, and the third-largest producer of corn.

“The risk to Argentine agriculture is growing,” the exchange said. “The main export destination for corn and soybean meal could shift to U.S. suppliers.”

Argentina’s agricultural exports are key to earning the foreign exchange the country needs to replenish its reserves.

Tags: soybean, soybean meal, USA, Argentina, corn, Vietnam