Faced with a sharp drop due to a trade war between the U.S. and China, the price of their products, Argentinean soybean farmers this year had no choice but to calculate losses or keep their stocks, betting on a possible ceasefire.

According to the estimates of the local grain exchange of Rosario, despite an unprecedented harvest, the decline in prices for soybeans at a record low at the beginning of this month. This collapse in prices will “knock out” $ 1.4 billion from the country's expected income from soybeans this season.

Soybean selling prices in the Rosario grain hub are currently $ 230 per ton, compared to $ 280 in the middle of last year, when farmers, according to prices on the futures and options exchange in Buenos Aires, began to plan their crops.

Prices in early May fell below a ten-year low of $ 210. “The impact of falling prices is enormous,” said Lucas Elizalde, a farmer in the northern province of Salta, told Reuters, adding that lower margins reduce a significant portion of farmers' profits.

The trade war between the United States and China led to an overabundance of soybeans in the United States, which before the trade conflict was successfully sold to the East and, as a consequence, reduced prices. The decline in the number of pigs in China due to the African swine fever also hit prices.