China’s decision to purchase 1.1 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans, announced Thursday by U.S. officials, had an instant impact in Minnesota, lifting bid prices at grain elevators and sending farmers and grain marketers to their calculators.
The Star Tribune reports shipping terminals in the Pacific Northwest started accepting soybeans for the first time in months.
Soybean sales to China, the largest buyer of U.S. soybeans, stopped in the summer, driving down prices. Farmers west and northwest of the Twin Cities, where the grain elevators and railroads are designed to deliver soybeans to the Pacific Northwest, were at a particular disadvantage.
Farmers are still reluctant to sell beans at current prices. For grain elevators, selling the beans to the coast is complicated because they must navigate fluctuations in the basis to turn a profit.
Read the full report at the Star Tribune.
