China Snaps Up Brazilian Soy as Trade War Worsens: Supply Lines

China just scooped up an unusually large amount of Brazilian soybeans, highlighting how the escalating trade war is making purchases of US crops unviable.

At least 2.4 million tons of beans were booked earlier this week, almost one-third of the average volume China typically crushes in a month, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News’ Hallie Gu. They noted that the buying spree was unusually large and fast.

While Beijing has diversified its agricultural imports in recent years, the US is still its second-largest soybean supplier. But as the tariff war between the two has rapidly escalated — testing the farm sectors of both nations — the bottom line is that ...