The US Department of Agriculture expects the tariffs imposed by China on imports of agricultural products from the United States to increase Brazilian exports of soybeans to China, World Grain reports.

The website quotes an official report by the department carried by the Global Agricultural Information Network as forecasting that Brazil will export 75.5 million tonnes of soybeans this season, slightly more than last season.

The official report says: “Assuming China continues to apply import duties on US soybeans, demand for Brazilian soybeans will remain elevated.”

It forecasts that Brazilian farmers, betting on higher prices, will plant 36 million hectares with soybeans this season, 3 percent more than last season, yielding a harvest of 123 million tonnes, the biggest on record.

Prices of Brazilian soybeans have risen markedly this year because of Chinese demand and the weakness of the Brazilian currency, World Grain quotes the US Department of Agriculture as saying.