US soybean exporters shift to alternative markets as China demand weakens
In Ukraine, UkrAgroConsult reported that U.S. soybean exporters are increasingly redirecting shipments to alternative markets following a sharp decline in sales to China, the world’s largest soybean importer.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), total U.S. soybean export commitments for the 2025/26 marketing year stood at 41.4 million tons as of July 16, down 18.5% from a year earlier. Chinese purchases fell 45% year-on-year to 12.4 mln tons, according to Platts, part of S&P Global.
Despite the sharp decline in Chinese demand, U.S. exporters have partially offset the losses by expanding sales to other destinations. USDA data show that an additional 3.3 million tons of soybeans have been sold to alternative markets, with most of the growth coming from Asian countries supported by new trade agreements with the United States and efforts to diversify supply sources, the report stated.
The strongest growth in purchases has come from Japan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Egypt. Japan increased its soybean commitments to 2.3 million tons (+10.2% year-on-year), Indonesia to 2.4 million tons (+19.8%), Bangladesh to 1.2 million tons (+49%), Egypt to 4.9 million tons (+41.6%), while Pakistan more than tripled its purchases to 1.1 million tons after lifting restrictions on imports of genetically modified crops.
Category: Food & Agriculture
