China Buys US Wheat & Sorghum, Ends Some Soybean Import Suspensions

Reuters’ Naveen Thukral and Ella Cao reported that “China has begun modest purchases of U.S. farm products after the leaders of both countries met last week, but traders still await significant soybean buys after the White House said Beijing pledged to buy 12 million tons by year-end.”

“The top market for U.S. farmers, China has turned its vast appetite for crops into a powerful trade war bargaining chip, largely avoiding U.S. wheat and soybeans in favour of other supplies, after rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs,” Thukral and Cao reported. “Chinese buyers have booked two cargoes of U.S. wheat, the first such purchases since October last year, two traders said on Thursday, while a sorghum shipment has been sent from the United States to China, a U.S. industry official said.”

“The deals to import U.S. agricultural goods come as Beijing confirmed on Wednesday that it suspended retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports, including duties on farm goods, although shipments of U.S. soybeans still face a 13% tariff,” Thukral and Cao reported.

Thukral reported that “China has purchased ‌two cargoes of U.‌S. wheat totalling around 120,000 tons for ⁠December ‌shipment following last week’s ‍meeting between the two countries’ leaders,​ two traders ‌told Reuters on Thursday. The purchases include one cargo of U.S. ⁠soft white ​wheat and ​one of spring wheat, the ‍sources ⁠said.”

Reuter’s Casey Hall reported that “a shipment of sorghum has been sent from the United States to China since last week, Mark Wilson, chairman of the U.S. Grains and BioProducts Council, said on Thursday, the first known cargo following the recent meeting between the two countries’ leaders.”

“‘I know after the meeting, one shipment of sorghum has been loaded and is coming over,’ Wilson told Reuters on the sidelines of the China International Import Expo in Shanghai, adding that he did not know the size of the shipment,” Hall reported. “…’I hope that we can get back to normal on sorghum because that’s the number one thing,’ said Wilson. ‘Before, 95% of the (U.S. sorghum) export market from the U.S. came to China, so we need to get that going again. That’s what I hope happens.”

China Ends Import Suspensions of Three US Firms’ Soybeans

Reuters’ reported that “China will restore three U.S. firms’ eligibility to export soybeans to China and remove the suspension of log imports from the United States, effective November 10, the customs administration said on Friday.”

“The three U.S. companies are farmer-owned cooperative CHS, global grains exporter Louis Dreyfus Company Grains Merchandising and export grain terminal operator EGT, according to customs statements,” Reuters reported. “The suspensions came into effect in March during an escalating trade war between the two countries.”