About those soybean tariffs

Turns out that when Chinese buyers realised that tariffs would be put on American soybeans, they went out and ordered as much as they could before the tariffs came into effect.

US soybean exports in May were $4.14bn, which is double what they were in May 2017.

A big portion of last year's crop that was stored has been sold. That means there is just this years crop to be disposed of after harvest in the autumn, and farmers are home and dry as they can plant something else next year.

Of course if they do plant a lot less next year, the world soybean supply will shrink, prices will rise and the Chinese will be paying a lot more for their soy regardless of who they buy it from. Brazil (the other large soy producer) will be laughing all the way to the bank.