China to cut tariffs on US farm goods, but list excludes soya beans

According to Dawn, China plans to reduce tariffs on a wide range of US farm products, including corn, wheat, meat and dairy, under a list issued jointly by its commerce ministry and the White House. Soybeans, which rank as one of China's top imports from the US, were left off that list. The measures form part of a $60 billion set of reciprocal tariff reductions negotiated through the Board of Trade and made public on Monday.

The list also includes sorghum, vegetable oils and meals such as soya oil and soya meal. The commerce ministry said in a statement that a share above 90 per cent of the listed goods will escape the additional duties applied to one another and fall under most-favoured-nation rates instead. The proposal, however, gives no start date for the reductions.

Soybeans still face an extra 10 per cent tariff, which traders say private crushers cannot absorb even as Chinese state buyers step up purchases. Sinograin and COFCO have purchased over 12 million metric tons of American soya beans, close to half of the 25 million tons the White House says Beijing agreed to buy each year through 2028. China has yet to confirm that target. Feng Chucheng, founder and partner at Hutong Research, said soybean purchases carry significant political weight.