Boom, then bust, for soybeans

By

National News

July 17, 2018 - 11:00 PM

Crop farmer Bob Worth loads soybean seeds into his soybean planter on the family farm in Lake Benton, Minn. David Joles/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS

A rush to get soybeans out of the country ahead of retaliatory Chinese tariffs caused a spike in exports in the second quarter as farmers and grain elevators hurriedly loaded trains and ships.

Then, sales slowed to a crawl.

“We’ve seen a downturn in orders for new crop,” said Bob Zelenka, executive director of the Minnesota Grain and Feed Association, which represents grain elevators. “We’re going to be probably sitting on some soybeans this fall in storage.”

When the U.S. slapped 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese imports on July 6, China retaliated with…

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