It's a long way from the southern reaches of the Brazilian Amazon to China, but it's a path that many more are set to tread. In the early 2000s, China didn't even figure among Brazil's top five export markets, but in every year since 2009, Beijing has been Brasilia's main trade partner. Today, China is a major market for Brazil's soybean exports, which account for over 40 percent of its total exports to the Asian country. And because of Beijing's trade spat with the United States and ambitious infrastructure investments in Brazil, Brazilian soybean exports to China are poised to keep growing. A New Route to the Orient China's demand for Brazilian soybeans has increased by almost 300 percent in the last eight years, according to official Chinese figures. Just last year, Brazil supplied over 53 percent of China's total soybean imports (excluding processed soybean meal or oil).