Ag News: Chinese Soybean Demand

**Could China’s demand for soybeans soon outstrip global production, and why don’t they grow their own?

According to Fast Company, https://www.fastcompany.com/90240606/chinas-hunger-for-soybeans-is-a-window-into-an-encroaching-environmental-crisis ... in northern China, where soybeans originated, water tables are dropping at a rate of up to 10 feet a year. That means they are running out of water and the remaining rivers and streams are so polluted the government has a daunting sanitization task.

China uses about 60% of the world’s soybeans with demand increasing at least 5% each year.

https://www.agweb.com/article/fast-company-china-soybean-demand-will-outpace-global-supply

**The renegotiation of the U.S.-South Korea free-trade agreement is being welcomed by farm groups even though little changes in terms of ag trade.

Last Monday, President Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in signed a revised KORUS trade deal that largely benefits American auto makers, but U.S. farmers could see improvements in the already growing trade relationship.

Since KORUS began in 2012, trade has increased more than 50%. Last year, agriculture accounted for 70% of trade to South Korea, our sixth largest export market.

https://www.agweb.com/article/revised-trade-deal-with-south-korea-seen-as-beneficial-for-agriculture/

**A team of chefs from all over European recently spent a week in Colorado learning about U.S. beef as part of a U.S. Meat Export Federation program intended to make them U.S. beef advocates.

The visit included training and tours of ranches, restaurants and retail outlets.

USMEF’s Yuri Barutkin says these chefs already work extensively with U.S. beef and were selected in partnership with U.S. beef distributors in European countries.