Soybeans and the U.S.-China Trade Relationship: A 70% Export Surge Explained

Official U.S. trade statistics are currently only available for the first two months of the year. Still, they show a significant increase over last year in soybean exports to China. Nationwide, there has been a 70.5% jump in soybean shipments to China, with volumes up to 5,588,578 metric tons from 3,278,649 metric tons in the same months a year ago. The majority of America’s soybean shipments journey down the Mississippi River to be loaded on ships at ports in the State of Louisiana, which itself produced only 1.3% of the nation’s soybeans last year. Two Louisiana ports, Gramercy and New Orleans, alone accounted for 63.9% of the January-February soybean export volume.

The other principal conduit for U.S. soybean exports are the ports of the Pacific Northwest, especially the Ports of Kalama, Longview, and Vancouver on the Washington State side of the Columbia River. So far this year, the three bulk shipment terminals have collectively shipped 1,471,658 metric tons of soybeans to China, a 47.5% year-over-year bump. The Northwest Seaport Alliance Ports of Tacoma and Seattle handled an additional 417,765 metric tons of soybean exports to China, a remarkable 202.4% jump over the same months last year.

At least in the first two months of the year, U.S. trade figures show no soybean exports leaving for China from the Ports of Oakland, Los Angeles, Long Beach, or Oregon’s Port of Portland.