Tuesday, April 24, 2018

China and Pigs and Soybeans: It's Complicated

What if China doesn't really need as many American soybeans as they once did, what if China has hit Peak Pork?
From Asian AgriBiz:

Plunging prices slow down pig production in China
April 23, 2018
After years of expansion, Chinese pig producers are slowing down or postponing expansion projects as oversupply has dragged prices down to an eight-year low in March. A report by Reuters said this development indicates that “years of frenzied investment to boost hog production has been overdone” while growth in demand has not kept pace and global pork supply is at its highest. With the country being the biggest producer and consumer of pork, the glut is already affecting the global market, especially as many key pork exporters like the EU and the US are seeing higher pork production.
What if  the tariffs are just political theater making use of a situation that was going to happen anyway.
We'll have more later this week.

Soybeans

May-20181019'2 -1'4

Jul-20181030'4 -1'6

Aug-20181033'2  -1'2

-AgWeb