Canada might soon be reaping the benefits from the recent string of canceled soybean contracts, Simon Wilson, executive director of the North Dakota Trade Office, told CNBC.
“The big competitor for us is Canada,” Wilson told CNBC’s Contessa Brewer on Friday’s “Power Lunch.” “They have similar weather, similar production cycle. And for us, we’ve always been competing with them.
But now, after Chinese buyers canceled all of their firm orders for food-grade soybeans earlier this month, the competition might heat up. The scrapped contracts amount to a loss of $1.2 million to $1.5 million, but that’s a small portion of North Dakota’s $30 million to $35 million in annual contracts, which are usually finalized in the summer months.
Wilson said Chinese trade delegations, previously scheduled for September, have gone “radio silent on us.”
“There’s a lot of money in this,” he said. “It’s a big market. China’s a massive market for soybeans.”
