Global soybean trade ‘not dead’ as China remains a key player
While total U.S. soybean exports could slip this year, shipments to some destinations are on the rise. (Photo by Illinois Farm Bureau)
By RHIANNON BRANCH
FarmWeek • With a lot of gloom and doom in the headlines on the global trade front recently, Jim Sutter, CEO of the U.S. Soybean Export Council, says global soybean trade is not dead and there is progress being made with international markets.
“The Liberation Day tariffs that were announced last April by President Donald Trump are actually resulting in new, mini-free trade deals that I think are going to really step up the amount of demand we’re seeing for U.S. soy,” Sutter told FarmWeek. “U.S. soy is going to be a tool that countries use as they try to balance their trade situations in a better way with the United States.”
He pointed to Pakistan and Bangladesh as countries that have agreed to purchase more U.S. soy to help bring tariffs down and he will be visiting Indonesia on a related USDA trade mission this month.
“I’m very interested to see how close (Indonesia’s trade deal) is to being finalized and exactly how it’s going to be implemented, because we think that could really result in strong demand from Indonesia for soybean meal,” he said.
Sutter was a virtual keynote speaker at the Illinois Soybean Association’s Soybean Summit Jan. 27. He shared a recent study showing global import demand for soybeans and soy products is expected to increase from 247 million metric tons in 2024 to 319 million metric tons by 2034.
The strongest projected growth market, to Sutter’s initial surprise, is China.
“We do understand that the demographics are such that the population in China will decline but there’s a very strong offset to that in the urbanization that is taking place there,” he said. “As people urbanize and have more buying power, they will buy more meat, more cooking oil, and it takes soy to be able to drive that.”
When marketing, Sutter said customers appreciate the “four Ds” of American soybeans which are dry, low damage, highly digestible and no deforestation.
“It’s been a real hot button topic with Brazil deforesting land in order to be able to grow their production,” he said. “For a growing number of countries, people care about this and do not want to be consuming food products that someone has had to deforest land in order to be able to produce.”
While total U.S. soybean exports to start 2026 are down due to a changing trade relationship with China, exports to other destinations are up about 14% from a year ago and 2025 saw record exports to non-China destinations.
“I think we’re seeing a good opportunity to diversify the markets for U.S. soy and to be able to see our product going to many different destinations,” Sutter said. “As these mini-free trade deals are actually implemented, those will also be another way that we stimulate demand in a diverse set of markets for U.S. soy, so I remain optimistic.”
This story was distributed through a cooperative project between Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Press Association. For more food and farming news, visit FarmWeekNow.com.
