Shipments of U.S. soybeans head to China despite retaliatory duties

More than 30 shipments of U.S. soybeans from the United States are headed to China, with nearly half of them expected to arrive after Beijing’s retaliatory duties on U.S. agricultural products take effect next month, according to U.S. export data.

While the final destination of the shipments could change, most have been booked by China’s state-run Sinograin agency and are likely to be exempt from duties, Bloomberg cited data.

The Chinese government imposed a 10 percent duty on U.S. soybeans as well as duties on a host of other agricultural products as the latest response to Washington’s comprehensive duties on Chinese exports. The duties began on March 10, but shipments sent before that date and arriving in China by April 12 will not be affected.

According to the analytical company Kpler, the volume of shipments on these dates is estimated at 2 million tons. As of March 6, the U.S. had about 1.36 million tons of outstanding sales to China, the USDA said in its latest estimate.

China imported 105 million tons of soybeans in 2024, mostly as livestock feed. The U.S. accounted for about one-fifth of that, with volumes declining in recent years after Beijing turned to other suppliers such as Brazil in the wake of the trade war with the first Trump administration.

The impact of the tariffs will be more pronounced if they extend into the start of the new U.S. export season in the fourth quarter of the year, analysts said.

Tags: China, soybean, USA