China buys 664,000 tonnes of US soybeans, its biggest daily purchase in nearly 7 weeks
USDA data shows Chinese buyers booking 664,000 tonnes of soybeans, the largest daily total since 22 July, for deliver in the 2020/21 marketing year.
Reuters reports that the sales were the latest in a string of large US farm commodity purchases by China, which vowed to increase imports of US agricultural goods as part of a Phase 1 trade deal signed earlier in 2020.
However, Chinese buying in the first half of 2020 totalled just $7.274 billion, while the trade deal called for $36.5 billion in annual purchases.
USDA on Tuesday 8 September also said that private exporters reported the sale of 101,600 tonnes of corn for delivery in 2020/21.
China has been ramping up its US corn imports, as the country faces its first real corn shortfall in years. A sharp price surge in corn - critical for China's mammoth hog, dairy and poultry sectors - is the latest in a series of ructions that include a devastating pig disease, pandemic-driven upsets for international suppliers and warnings of a growing food supply gap.
After months of record soybean imports from Brazil, China has pivoted to buying more soybeans and other goods from the United States. The world's top commodity importer has already bought record volumes of US corn, pork and poultry this year, and last month booked its largest-ever weekly purchase of US beef.
