China turns to Argentine soy meal in fresh blow to US farmers

China is opening the door to soybean meal shipments from Argentina, the world’s biggest exporter of the animal feed, as Beijing looks to pivot away from US agricultural products amid a trade war with Washington.

The Asian giant is finally allowing soy meal imports from the South American nation after two decades of talks, Argentina’s Agriculture Ministry said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

Beijing has been loathe to accept Argentine meal because it prefers to import raw soybeans and process them in China to promote its own crushing industry. But the trade war has been turning global supply chains on their head.

As China shunned US beans, it turned to Brazil – and to a lesser extent Argentina – for supplies. Now it is going one step further, accepting value-added meal from Argentina even though the move could risk angering its crushers.

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