US soybean farmers optimistic about normalized trade with China, says industry leader

DES MOINES - US soybean farmers are "excited and optimistic" to be resuming "more normalized" trade with their Chinese partners as the latest round of trade talks between the two countries have made substantial progress, an industry insider has said.

Grant Kimberley, director of market development at the Iowa Soybean Association, is one of them.

A challenging year

It has been a "challenging year" for soybean farmers for two major reasons -- a very wet spring delayed their planting and the lingering trade war resulted in a lot of volatility in the marketplace, said Kimberley.

"Uncertainty has been the name of the game this last year because of all the twists and turns, and almost like watching a movie of having the various plot points change in direction," he said.

"US soybean exports decline this year, year over year, probably about 20 or so percent in this period of time. Now our exports to China have declined even more than that," he said.

The current price of soybeans is "getting better" but "not quite where we need to be for a break-even price," he said.

Iowa soybean farmers have offset some of that loss by increasing their exports to other countries, Kimberley said, "but China certainly is one of the largest consumers of soybeans in the world, and so it's hard to offset all of that. One thing that US farmers want to have is more certainty in our marketplace."

The financial aid set out by the US federal government can only help farmers pay some bills "in the short term," he said, "but (in the) long term we want to see the markets resume on a normal basis because that's what's best for farmers here and best for consumers in China."

Quicker, less disruptive

"We're excited and optimistic to be resuming a more normalized and hopefully an increased amount of export trade with our partners in China," said Kimberley.

He hoped that once the two countries resolve the trade differences, both sides would have "even a stronger" economic and trade relationship down the road.

"And I think our Chinese customers are also optimistic and hopeful that they can resume purchasing on a more consistent and larger basis from us as well," he said.

"But it has taken us a long time to get there, though," he said. "We wish it (trade tension) would have been addressed in a quicker, but in a less disruptive way than having tariffs from both countries go back and forth."

"I'm hopeful (that) we'll have more certainty and more consistency next year, and be able to move forward with increased trade between both countries and better relationship down the road," he said.

"The bottom line is conversations and engagement need to continue, to happen, no matter what kind of ups and downs we see," he said. "Twists and turns might happen during the normal course of a negotiation as long as the dialogue continues. That's what can help us hopefully come to a resolution for both sides."