Spoils of trade war: Argentina loads up on cheap US soybeans

BUENOS AIRES/CHICAGO — A ship named the Torrent is nearing the end of a 5,000-mile trip carrying soybeans from the US Great Lakes to Argentina — a journey that only makes economic sense because of the US-China trade war.

The ship is scheduled to dock in the Rosario grains hub on Dec. 4, days after the leaders of the world’s two largest economies, US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, hold high-stakes trade talks in Buenos Aires.

They will meet on the sidelines of a Group of 20 nations summit and are expected to discuss how to roll back tit-for-tat tariffs — covering goods worth hundreds of billions of dollars — that have skewed global trade flows.

The Torrent’s 20,000-tonne soybean cargo is one such distortion, and just one of 14 ships the Argentine soy crusher Vicentin has lined up to import US soybeans, according to port data reviewed by Reuters. The previously unreported shipments are among the first significant Argentine purchases from the United States in two decades, according to Vicentin’s broker and port data, as the nation’s government and industry moves to capitalize on the tumult of the US-China conflict.

Argentina — one of the world’s top soybean exporters, and the top exporter of processed meal and oil usually has no reason to import beans. But this year, the South American nation has raced to the top of the list of US soybean importers because the prices of US beans have fallen by 15 percent since late May, when China first threatened tariffs on them.

“One of the consequences of the trade war is that US beans have to find a new home,” said Thomas Hinrichsen, president of Buenos Aires-based brokerage J.J. Hinrichsen SA, which cut the deals for Vicentin. “You are in the money to ship cheaper US beans into efficient crushing plants in Argentina.”

Beyond price, Argentina needs US beans to feed its massive soy-crushing industry after a punishing drought. What is left of the nation’s own crops are going to feed pigs in China — where buyers are paying a premium for South American soybeans to fill the gap left by virtually halted imports from the United States.

“The combination of the drought in Argentina and the soy glut in the United States caused by the trade conflict has directed US soybeans toward Argentina,” said Guillermo Wade, manager of Argentina’s Port and Maritime Activities Chamber. “They are being used to keep our crushers working while freeing Argentine soybeans to go to China.”

Argentina’s International Trade Secretary, Marisa Bircher, told Reuters Argentina was also seeking to export more soy and byproducts to India and Southeast Asia. Argentina’s current top soymeal buyers include the European Union, Vietnam and Indonesia.

“Clearly, this US-China conflict is generating a change in the grain trade,” Bircher said.

The grains powerhouse is even negotiating a license to export soymeal directly to China — which has until now only imported Argentine beans for crushing in China.

“We have a very good relationship with China... we are negotiating to open the market to soybean meal before the end of the year,” said Bircher.

Argentina collects export taxes from companies on agricultural goods like soy, corn and wheat shipments, providing it with much needed revenue in the midst of an economic crisis.

The country, which is in the global spotlight as G20 host, has good relations with both the United States and China and has sought deals with both in recent weeks as it seeks to cash in on opportunities that have arisen due to the trade war.

Besides seeking the soymeal deal with China, it has negotiated a deal to export beef to the United States for the first time in 17 years.

The Torrent, which loaded a month ago at a Toledo, Ohio facility operated by Ohio-based The Andersons, is one of 43 US soybean ships that have sailed for Argentina since July and the second to sail from the Great Lakes region, on the other side of the world from the South American country. Just nine have sailed for China.

A year ago, 282 soybean cargo vessels were loaded in the United States bound for China in that time and none to Argentina, according to US Department of Agriculture data.—