ICYMI: China Stops Buying Soybeans Despite Cramer Claims

The report comes days after Cramer dismissed farmers’ fears as “hysterics”

(BISMARCK, ND) — You just can’t trust Cramer: Despite Cramer’s relentless attempts to mislead North Dakota’s farmers – insisting their very real concerns about the harmful impact the Trump Administration’s tariffs could have on their livelihoods are nothing but political “hysteria” – North Dakota farmers aren’t buying it. And neither are the experts: According to CNBC, China has been canceling millions of bushels of soybeans over the past three weeks. It was reported that essentially zero new orders are being made.

For weeks, Cramer has hung his hat on the insistence that “very few places in the world grow soybeans,” so China will eventually cave to U.S. pressure, “because three times a day, there’s a meal in China. 1.4 billion people have to eat.” But despite Cramer’s claims, China is shopping around to places like Brazil, proving – as farmers warned – China might not “need us every bit as we need them.”

All of this comes on the heels of the Chinese government threatening a 25 percent tariff on soybeans, corn, and other agricultural products if Trump Administration continues with its misguided trade policies.

“Does Cramer think North Dakota farmers are blind? Despite their warnings about what a tariffs-induced trade war could mean for our ag economy, Cramer has been hellbent on trying to convince them that they don’t know their own business,” said Scott McNeil, Executive Director of the Democratic-NPL. “Now that China has halted soybean buys in the U.S. and is shopping around to other countries – will Cramer finally stand up for them? It just goes to show North Dakotans can’t trust Cramer. He would rather play politics with our farmers’ futures and advance his own career every time.”

CNBC: Angst hangs over farm belt after reports that China stopped buying US soybeans

  • Farm country is worried about reports that China has curbed buying U.S. soybeans due to the ongoing trade spat.

  • “Using soybeans as a retaliation for other trade disputes is really worrisome for farmers,” said Gregg Fujan, a soybean grower in Nebraska. “Those international markets are critical to our profitability. So hopefully the people doing those negotiations can come to an agreement and we can get this worked out.”

  • China buys roughly half of the U.S. soybean exports, and about 1 in 3 rows of soybeans grown on the nation’s farms goes to the world’s second-largest economy, according to the American Soybean Association.

  • In the three weeks ending April 26, China canceled just over 196,000 metric tons (or about 7.2 million bushels) of U.S. beans for the current marketing year, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s roughly equivalent to filling up the cargo holds of four mid-sized bulk ships.

  • Brazil, though, enjoyed record volumes of soybean exports last month, according to Anec, the country’s grain exporter group. Anec put exports at just over 11.6 million tons in April, or about 1 million above the March tally.

  • Soren Schroder, CEO of agricultural commodities dealer Bunge, said during a Bloomberg interview on Wednesday that U.S. soybean sales to China have essentially stopped. “All the business that’s being conducted with China now is being conducted from non-U.S. origins,” he said.