President Trump’s social media post suggesting a boycott on Chinese cooking oil has major implications for the U.S. soybean industry. However, Minnesota Soybean Growers Association Executive Director Joe Smentek says it’s biofuels policy issue, not a trade issue. “What has been happening is China and some of these other countries either are saying something is used cooking oil when it’s palm oil, Argentinian soybean oil, or whole South American soybeans going over to China, getting crushed, and China is sending us back the oil,” said Smentek. ” In a lot of cases, it is barely used cooking oil and it’s about capturing these credits in California under their low-carbon fuel standards.” The recent change to the 45Z tax credit includes a slight penalty for imported feedstocks. Smentek emphasized that domestic soy oil, which is a byproduct of the soybean crush, should receive the lowest carbon score. “Something like used cooking oil could impact the farm economy in such a myriad of ways, it really shows how complicated this really is for our farmers with one little decision that seemingly wouldn’t affect farm policy can have a huge domino effect.”
