Canada clout soon be reaping the benefits from the recent string of canceled soybean covenants, Simon Wilson, executive director of the North Dakota Trade Task, told CNBC.
“The big competitor for us is Canada,” Wilson told CNBC’s Contessa Brewer on Friday’s “Power Lunch.” “They be undergoing similar weather, similar production cycle. And for us, we’ve always been contending with them.
But now, after Chinese buyers canceled all of their sturdy orders for food-grade soybeans earlier this month, the competition effectiveness heat up. The scrapped contracts amount to a loss of $1.2 million to $1.5 million, but that’s a lesser portion of North Dakota’s $30 million to $35 million in annual gets, which are usually finalized in the summer months.
Wilson said Chinese marketing delegations, previously scheduled for September, have gone “radio mute on us.”
“There’s a lot of money in this,” he said. “It’s a big market. China’s a massive demand for soybeans.”
“And these contracts, you know, these are the ones that survive through the rest of the winter and so on,” Wilson said. “We’re really now at a point where if they don’t get bolted in, we don’t know where we’re going to put these beans.”
“There’s a lot at stake,” he replied.
In addition to Canada, Wilson said other countries that muscle swoop in and take market share are Russia and Brazil.
“They’re the wholes that are really starting to play the game and really getting in there intently,” he said.
“We don’t mind competing,” he said. “But it’s when you put us out on the sidelines that’s when it gets genuine tough for us.”