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Argentina Replaces China as Biggest U.S. Soybean Buyer

Almost 1.3 million metric tons of U.S. oilseed have been inspected for export to Argentina from Sept. 1 through Nov. 22.

Argentina Replaces China as Biggest U.S. Soybean Buyer
Soybeans are loaded into a grain cart during harvest in Wyanet, Illinois, U.S. (Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg )

(Bloomberg) -- Argentina has become the epicenter of soybean trading dynamics -- at least for now.

The South American nation has risen to become the top buyer of U.S. beans in the last three months as China looks elsewhere in an escalating trade war with the Trump administration. Almost 1.3 million metric tons of U.S. oilseed have been inspected for export to Argentina from Sept. 1 through Nov. 22, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That compares with none in the same year-ago period, USDA data show.

Argentina Replaces China as Biggest U.S. Soybean Buyer

Normally, Argentina processes its own soybeans to export meal and oil. But with China on the hunt for non-American oilseed, it’s shipping out more raw beans and buying more from the U.S. to feed its crushers, especially after a drought earlier this year curbed output.

There’s another reason that Argentina’s the center of the soybean universe right now -- it’s hosting the Group of 20 later this week, when a meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping may move the two economic superpowers closed to a trade deal.

To contact the reporters on this story: Shruti Date Singh in Chicago at ssingh28@bloomberg.net;Dominic Carey in Washington at dcarey5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net, Patrick McKiernan

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