(NAFB.com) – America’s soybean harvest began in September with no orders from China, the world’s largest soybean buyer. USDA says that farmers will harvest 4.3 billion bushels, with no indication of when shipments to China will resume. In a typical year, Farmdoc at the University of Illinois says China buys more than half of all U.S. soybean exports. Meanwhile, Brazil set an export record for shipments to China from January through August. In 2024, the U.S. shipped almost 985 million bushels to China, accounting for 51 percent of the nation’s total soybean exports. This year, U.S. soybean exports to China from January through August totaled 218 million bushels, 29 percent of the total exports during that time. In June, July, and August, shipments to China were effectively at zero. While U.S. farmers wait for an agreement, the overall Chinese duty rate on U.S. soybean imports is 34 percent in 2025.