Latest news with #USSoybeanExportCouncil
Indian Express
19-05-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
US farmers can offer non-GM soybean products to India: USSEC chief Jim Sutter
A US-India trade deal could resolve several trade issues between the two countries, helping the Indian poultry industry gain access to 'sustainably verified' US soybean feed products, while allowing the US to partially offset potential losses arising from trade tensions with China, CEO of the US Soybean Export Council (USSEC), Jim Sutter, told The Indian Express. Sutter said he does not view regulatory challenges in India around genetically modified (GM) products as a non-tariff barrier, as US soy farmers have both GM and non-GM products to supply to India and elsewhere. This comes amid regulatory restrictions in India concerning GM seeds and products, which have been described by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) as barriers to trade. 'The progress in trade deals between India and the US could help resolve differences on trade, and both countries stand to benefit. US farmers have both GM and non-GM options available for India and I see GM as a matter of choice, not a non-tariff barrier,' Sutter said on the sidelines of the U.S. Soybean Export Council's SUSTAIN SUMMIT conference. 'China began importing soybeans from the US in 1995. Within 10 years, China became the largest importer, but its total [soybean oil] exports also doubled, benefiting from US soybean imports,' Sutter noted. Notably, during India-US trade talks, US demands have centred on greater market access—particularly for automobiles, whisky, and certain agricultural products. 'Sustainably verified US soy can play an integral role in meeting customers' evolving needs for sustainable sourcing—from livestock and aqua feed to soy foods,' Sutter said at the conference. He added that by choosing US soy, customers gain a competitive advantage while continuing to build trust in the market. Highlighting the need for sustainable choices, USSEC said in a statement that customers are willing to pay 9.7 per cent more for sustainable or sustainably sourced goods. This market shift proves that sustainability is here to stay, and corporations that adapt will increase market share, mitigate risks, and continue to build brand preference. 'As sustainability drives purchasing decisions, the 'Sustainable US Soy' label gives companies a competitive advantage. Customers sourcing at least 60 per cent of their soy from the US for food and animal feed products qualify to use the 'Fed with Sustainable US Soy' label on their packaging. Whole soybean products must contain 90 per cent verified sustainable soy to qualify for the 'Sustainable US Soy' label. These labels serve as markers of supply chain transparency,' USSEC said. While sustainability has recently become a trend, US soy farmers have been implementing sustainable practices for decades, USSEC said. It added that methods such as precision agriculture, crop rotation, and water management have decreased soil erosion and improved soil quality. 'Since 1980, US soybean farmers have improved soil conservation by 34 per cent,' according to a USSEC statement. (The reporter was in Colombo at the invitation of USSEC) Ravi Dutta Mishra is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, covering policy issues related to trade, commerce, and banking. He has over five years of experience and has previously worked with Mint, CNBC-TV18, and other news outlets. ... Read More
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How China's retaliatory soybean tariff impacts the US economy
China imposed various retaliatory tariffs on the US in response to US President Donald Trump's tariff policy. Particularly notable is the 10% tariff China imposed on US soybeans (ZS=F), as soybeans are the US's top agricultural export, with China as the top importer. US Soybean Export Council CEO Jim Sutter joins Brad Smith on Wealth to discuss the state of the soybean market following the tariffs and the impact on consumers. Sutter says, "We are hopeful that this will be a short-lived situation," given how important a market China is to the US soybean industry and how important the soybean industry is to the US economy. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. He notes that "the most important thing" is "how quickly can some sort of agreement be reached," explaining that Trump has around six months before the crop will be harvested in the US. Watch the video above to hear more about the impact of China's soybean tariff, including the impact on American and Chinese consumers. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here. This post was written by Naomi Buchanan. China begins imposing tariffs on US farm products today. The policies include a 15% tariff on chicken, wheat, and corn, as well as 10% on products like soybeans, pork, beef, and fruit. China is the number one importer of US soybean products, and soy experts are a major part of the US economy. It's America's number one agricultural export, adding $3.12 billion to the US economy in 2020. According to the US Soybean Export Council, so how will these tariffs impact American businesses and consumers? Joining me now is Jim Sutter. He is the CEO of the US Soybean Export Council. Jim, thank you so much for taking the time here with us. Just walk us through your your thought process that you were kind of rolling out for the organization, for the team as well, as you're monitoring all of the tariff talk that's taking place. Yeah, thank you very much, Brad. I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you, and it's certainly not what we would want to see happen. This is not the, not our first choice, you know, we have been working in China for 43 years now. Our organization, US Soy Farmers working together with USDA's foreign agricultural. Service recognized early on back in the 1980s that China was going to grow to be a very important market and wow did it, you know, it has grown to be the biggest importer of soy in the world and also the biggest, as you rightly said, it's the number one customer for US soy exports. So we are hopeful that this will be a short-lived situation. You know, back in 2020, January 15th of 2020, the United States and China with great fanfare, President Trump and President Xi and their administrations negotiated the phase one agreement. And it contained a lot of really good things that were going to be done, both on a pure trade perspective, but also in terms of easing lots of regulatory restrictions. It started doing that, but then COVID hit, and then we changed administrations and it sort of lost its focus. So what we would hope is that the situation we find ourselves in today, which isn't exactly We want, but hopefully we will be able to quickly get back to a new and improved phase 1 or a phase 2 agreement, which includes many of those same things that were negotiated before and allows the two countries to get back to a solid trading relationship. Jim, after there is an agreement, how quickly do we see some of the action that takes place from purchasing? Well, the last time an agreement was signed back when I mentioned in 2020, it happened almost immediately. We saw Chinese companies start to purchase US soybeans and prices kind of rallied very, very quickly. This time we've already seen the expectation of tariffs have had somewhat of a negative aspect on prices. I mean, we're already prices are relatively low for US soy because we've, we've got a, we had a record crop here in the US last year. There's a very big crop growing in South America. We are sort of a global crop, so we depend upon the global supply and demand. So we have prices at attractive levels for consumers already. So we don't really want prices to go down any further. And so all of these things in mind, what is the time span that you're monitoring for how this plays out to the point where it would materially impact not just this year's results but also for companies that are operating and rely on some of these uh partnerships internationally for soybeans specifically and other commodities perhaps that would impact their ability for operations in the future as well. Sure, that's a great question, Brad and the first thing, the most important thing we're looking at is how quickly can some sort of an agreement be reached and particularly important for us, the timeline we're looking for is when the crop would be harvested in the United States. Now we haven't even planned. yet, so there's quite a bit of time. There's probably about 6 months. So we would hope that certainly there could be some sort of a new agreement in place by the 1st of October, and that's really the time when US soy exports would start flowing in style to China. In the meantime, you know, China tends to import a lot of their soy at this time of year from South America because we have the two hemispheres that harvest the crops and they kind of switch back and forth. But what we'll also see, I think, is other countries, because US prices have come down in reaction to this tariff talk, I think we'll probably perhaps see a little bit of an uptick in demand from other countries that will say, hey, US soy is on sale. They'll want to come and make some, make some more purchases. So we're trying to find the best solution we can out of all of these sort of things. Jim, lastly, while we have you, of course, consumers are watching this and saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, but what, what does this mean for the prices that I'm paying when I'm filling up the basket and my weekly or cyclical purchases, um, you know, as, as they're just trying to fill up the pantry or refrigerator. Yeah, again, that's a good question. And, and really we have to talk about two different sets of consumers. The last time that this happened, it was quite bad for Chinese consumers because the price they started paying for soy imports, which is a very important feed ingredient for their pork industry and their poultry industry, really went up because they weren't importing anything. From the US. Likewise, for US consumers, those prices went down some. So if anything, it should help make US products here in the United States even more competitive. Now I think our prices are already plenty low, so, so it's not feed ingredients. If there are prices that are high today, and I think everybody thinks of eggs being the high. Priced item. It is certainly not the price of soybean meal or corn that is driving the high price of eggs. It is the, the shortage we have because of the avian influenza. But, but raw materials shouldn't be the problem. And if anything, with their low prices today, it should be helping US consumers. Jim Sutter, thanks so much for taking the time, breaking this down with us. Thank you, Brad. Appreciate it.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How China's retaliatory soybean tariff impacts the US economy
China imposed various retaliatory tariffs on the US in response to US President Donald Trump's tariff policy. Particularly notable is the 10% tariff China imposed on US soybeans (ZS=F), as soybeans are the US's top agricultural export, with China as the top importer. US Soybean Export Council CEO Jim Sutter joins Brad Smith on Wealth to discuss the state of the soybean market following the tariffs and the impact on consumers. Sutter says, "We are hopeful that this will be a short-lived situation," given how important a market China is to the US soybean industry and how important the soybean industry is to the US economy. He notes that "the most important thing" is "how quickly can some sort of agreement be reached," explaining that Trump has around six months before the crop will be harvested in the US. Watch the video above to hear more about the impact of China's soybean tariff, including the impact on American and Chinese consumers. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here. This post was written by Naomi Buchanan. Sign in to access your portfolio
