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China-Latin America relations
China

Brazil shrugs off US-China soybean deal as seasonal trade

Farmers say Beijing’s renewed US buys won’t upend Brazil’s exports, but tight credit and dry weather cloud outlook

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Brazil sends roughly three-quarters of its soybean exports to China, worth nearly US$44 billion last year. Photo: AP
Igor Patrickin Rio de Janeiro
Brazil’s soybean producers are downplaying concerns over a freshly minted US-China trade agreement that will see Beijing resume large-scale purchases of American soybeans, insisting the 12 million tonnes (13.23 million tons) pledged represents routine seasonal trade rather than a market upheaval.

Mauricio Buffon, president of Brazil’s Soybean Producers Association (Aprosoja), said the volume announced by Washington and Beijing on Wednesday should not alarm Brazilian exporters, framing it as part of normal supply cycles.

“It is a movement that happens every year,” Buffon said in an interview to CNN Money Brazil.

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“The United States has soybeans available now because they have just harvested. Brazil, on the other hand, is planting the new crop and has low stocks.”

The accord, unveiled after Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met in South Korea marks a potential turning point for American farmers battered by months of suspended Chinese orders.

‘We have a deal’: Trump claims breakthrough after ‘12 out of 10’ talks with Xi Jinping

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Under the deal, China would immediately resume agricultural purchases whilst also reducing certain trade barriers and import tariffs.

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