Market experts are voicing out their concerns regarding the ongoing trade war between China and the United States. Some are even convinced that the United States may not be able to regain the market share it had lost due to the bitter trade war.
China is confident that the country should be able to find other markets to buy agricultural produce, instead of relying on the United States, a country that has increasingly turn hostile in terms of trade negotiations lately. A Chinese vice agriculture minister went as far as warning American farmers that they could potentially lose their Chinese market share as a direct result of the ongoing trade war.
China vice agricultural minister Han Jun said, "Many countries have the willingness and they totally have the capacity to take over the market share the U.S. is enjoying in China."
Han added that other countries are willing to fill the void in case the current trade war against the U.S. turned for the worse. The minister concluded that the U.S. will find it very difficult to regain the market share it had lost should it continue to wage the ongoing trade war.
Experts are also agreeing with China's recent stance. The U.S. have spent decades building its current agricultural market in China, an effort that had been completely dismantled by Washington's recent retaliatory tariffs.
China and the U.S. have been on a bitter trade war since the start of July. Recently, Beijing released its latest set of retaliatory tariffs against American goods amounting to $16 billion. This is in response to Washington's decision to impose 25 percent tariffs on Chinese imports.
In order to mitigate the economic effect of the trade war, China has stopped importing soybeans from U.S. farmers since early July. The decision has had its effect on agricultural needs as soybeans is one of the most preferred animals feeds in China.
China is the world's biggest importer of soybeans. The country uses it for various manufacturing products including biodiesel, cooking oil, and livestock feeds.
Prior to the recent trade war, China was slated to import 300 million tons of soybeans this year from the United States. Last year, China has imported close to $24.1 billion worth of agricultural products from the United States. This represents 19 percent of the country's total farm imports which is pegged at $125.86 billion.
In contrast, the U.S. is the third largest importer of Chinese fruits and the fifth largest in terms of vegetables amassing a combined worth of around $1.84 billion.
