China has reportedly purchased 80 percent of the 12 million metric ton soybean purchase obligation from the United States. “We hear the number 12 million metric tons, but typically, the last three years they’ve bought on average, 26 million metric tons, so the 12 million is a lot less,” said North Dakota Soybean Growers Association President Justin Sherlock. Sherlock believes China will remain a critical market for U.S. soybeans in the short and long term. “China has the capacity to crush around 120 million metric tons of soybeans a year. If you break that down, they have the capacity to crush a unit train of soybeans every 45 to 50 minutes. When you look at it that way, all the rest of the world combined doesn’t add up to that capacity.”
