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ASA president fears Chinese soybean demand forever changed

The president of the American Soybean Association is concerned about long-term damage caused by the trade war with China.

ASA president John Heisdorffer, a farmer from Keota, Iowa, says—in his opinion—Chinese demand for U.S. soybeans will never be the same.

“I think we’ve lost trade forever, a certain part at least, from China,” Heisdorffer says. “Will we lose it all? No, we’ll get some of it back. But there’s a certain percentage (lost), because they immediately went elsewhere to find soybeans and we’re just not going to get that part back.”

Heisdorffer says South America will be the beneficiary.

“I was in Brazil about five weeks ago and the word on the Mato Grasso state alone was they plan to open up 18 million more acres by 2025—and that was before the tariffs, so you know they’re going to speed up that process,” he says. “

Heisdorffer hopes a new NAFTA agreement can be reached soon. He says it could set a precedent for additional Free Trade Agreements that will be needed to replace part of the soybean market being lost in China.

Heisdorffer visited with Brownfield at this week’s Farm Progress Show.

AUDIO: John Heisdorffer