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SD farmer: keep China a top market for U.S. soy

A farmer from northeastern South Dakota says China remains an important market for U.S. soybeans despite growing tensions between the two countries.

Mike McCranie tells Brownfield…

“In our part of the world, 6 of 10 rows of soybeans are exported and out of that, half of those go to China,” he says. “China is a very important market and we do everything we possibly can to maintain that market relationship.”

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will be in China Sunday through Wednesday and is expected to talk areas of potential cooperation between the two countries. McCranie says the two countries need one another. However, several factors affect demand and the quality of U.S. soybeans is superior to what is grown in South America.

“When you have a better quality product, it can cost a little more.”

And he says as more soybeans are crushed in the United States, there is a concern there will be fewer whole beans to export to China, but McCranie says that’s not the case.

“Our yields have been increasing each year and we have more technology coming into the soybean gene pool. We feel our whole bean exports won’t suffer or decline by a lot.”

McCranie attended Soy Connext, a trade event sponsored by the U.S. Soybean Export Council, in New York City this week.