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Top U.S. soybean competitors into China face obstacles

An analyst concerned about Chinese tariffs on soybeans says the U.S. is not in danger of being phased out of that market long-term.

Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities in Des Moines, tells Brownfield top South American competitors like Brazil and Argentina face several limiting factors.

“Their infrastructure is nowhere close to where we are.  Their political situation is nowhere close to where we are.”

He acknowledges South America can produce huge crops, but Roose says the problem is getting that product to port.

“They have trucker strikes, rail strikes, loading strikes.  Their road system is suspect.  There are some good roads, but there’s an awful lot of poor roads.  So I think they would like to take advantage of this situation, (but) I’m not sure how fast they can gear up.”

Roose suggests South American crop production is probably close to maxed out already.  And he says persistent political uncertainty will also inhibit the efforts of Brazil and Argentina to overtake U.S. market-share into China.