By Jake Spring
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil could lose some recent gains it made in the global soy market during the U.S.-China trade war if those two countries reach a deal to end their dispute, a Brazilian Agriculture Ministry official said on Wednesday.
Wilson Vaz Araujo, Brazil’s deputy secretary for agriculture policy, told reporters the South American country could respond by shifting exports to countries other than China.
“We have gained in these years and today we have a larger share of the market. It could recede a little,” Araujo said. “But Brazil, I think, has the conditions to react and export to other markets.”
Chinese officials are expected to travel to the United States next week to conclude the first phase of a deal that President Donald Trump announced in October, saying it would lead to China spending $40 billion to $50 billion annually on U.S. farm products.
China had largely stopped buying U.S. soy during the extended trade dispute and boosted imports from Brazil, buying nearly 80% of the South American country’s soy crop in 2019, Brazilian government statistics showed.
(Reporting by Jake Spring; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
