There was a piece about this on the radio a few months ago. It's actually a big deal. My memory isn't exact, because of the passage of time, but essentially, China needs America's soybeans because it can't grow enough of them on its own. And it needs the soybeans to feed its livestock in order to feed its people.
The natural thought is, "China can just buy soybeans elsewhere." Which is true. Except that there are not enough countries producing soybeans for export to fill the quantity that China requires.
A more important problem for China is seasonality. When America's soybeans are ready to harvest, Brazil's soybeans are just being planted, and vice versa.
So it leaves China eventually in a position where it can't/won't get soybeans from the U.S., Brazil doesn't have any soybeans to send, and none of the other countries can make up the defecit.
There was a piece about this on the radio a few months ago. It's actually a big deal. My memory isn't exact, because of the passage of time, but essentially, China needs America's soybeans because it can't grow enough of them on its own. And it needs the soybeans to feed its livestock in order to feed its people.
The natural thought is, "China can just buy soybeans elsewhere." Which is true. Except that there are not enough countries producing soybeans for export to fill the quantity that China requires.
A more important problem for China is seasonality. When America's soybeans are ready to harvest, Brazil's soybeans are just being planted, and vice versa.
So it leaves China eventually in a position where it can't/won't get soybeans from the U.S., Brazil doesn't have any soybeans to send, and none of the other countries can make up the defecit.
Therein lies the rub.