IN the grains hub of Rosario on the banks of Argentina’s Parana River, the local soy crushing factories are feeling the chill of a trade war between China and the United States.

Some of the massive plants along the river have been idled; some have laid off workers. All of them are hurting, as the industry loses market share for the soymeal produced from raw soybeans.

In the past, much of the Argentine soymeal has been exported to markets such as Vietnam and Indonesia. But those sales have been supplanted by the United States, just one of the many shifts in global trading patterns that have resulted from the trade dispute.

Those shifts have far-reaching consequences. In this case, China imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. sales of soybeans, which, in turn, stranded millions of tons of soybeans in the United States, pushing down prices. That has made it more economical to crush the beans and export soymeal to Southeast Asia -- undercutting Argentina’s industry in the process.

“We are normal people stuck in the middle of the Sino-U.S. tariff war,” said Javier Spinelli, an official with the union that represents about 1,300 workers in Rosario’s soy crushing industry. “We are constantly watching the news to see if there is a change in tariffs, or a tweet from Donald Trump announcing a truce with China.”

Argentinah turns more soy into processed meal for export than any other country. Nearly half of the country’s soy crushing capacity could be idled this year, the highest rate since 1987, according to the country’s chamber of crushing companies, known by its Spanish acronym CIARA.

“Sino-U.S. trade tensions have had one effect in the United States and the opposite effect in Argentina,” said Emilce Terre, research head at the Rosario grain exchange. “We are seeing more exports of raw beans to the detriment of value-added soymeal and soyoil production.”

Adding to the disruption, Argentina’s soy crushing industry is coping with a new national tax scheme that put an equal levy on soymeal exports and raw beans. Previously, soy byproducts were taxed at a lower rate to stimulate the crushing industry.

In Rosario, where soybeans are crushed into soymeal and loaded on ships along the river, some 250 processing jobs have been lost over recent months, said Federico Calderon, an official with the Rosario Soy Crushers Union.(SD-Agencies)