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By Karl Plume and Tom Polansek
CHICAGO (Reuters) – China has only bought half of the US soybeans it pledged to buy earlier in the year, a US Department of Agriculture official said Thursday after a small sale reported in the midst of the escalation of the trade war.
US President Donald Trump has promised to impose new tariffs in Beijing from September, leading China to declare that it has stopped imports of all US agricultural products in a trade dispute threatening growth in the United States. two largest economies in the world.
US officials have repeatedly said that they expect China to buy large amounts of soybeans as a sign of goodwill while both parties negotiate a trade deal. USDA's undersecretary of trade, Ted McKinney, told Reuters that Beijing was far from that.
"Very publicly in the Oval Office, they made commitments for 20 million tons of purchases, and only about 9 or 10 million tons were shipped and accepted," said McKinney on the sidelines of a conference in Chicago, where he then shook hands with a delegation of Chinese buyers.
On August 5, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that Chinese companies had stopped buying US agricultural products and that it could impose additional tariffs on them, an initiative that targets rural states that have supported Trump in the 2016 elections.
However, the world's largest soybean importer signed contracts for 9,589 tonnes of US soybeans for delivery during the current marketing year and 9,600 tonnes, approximately one shipment, for 9-15 August. the next year, showed weekly data from the USDA.
McKinney said that he had not seen the data yet.
"If China has bought, I'm going to celebrate. I hope this is the case, "said McKinney during an interview at the soybean export conference, which brought together in Chicago hundreds of soybean buyers from 50 countries.
McKinney asked the conference staff to present it to the Chinese delegation in order to tell its members that the United States would like to continue selling soybeans to China, the conference organizers said.
He posed for a picture with the delegation, which mostly kept a low profile. Delegations from China and Vietnam were banned from visiting US farms during their visit because of US efforts to maintain African swine fever, a disease that has killed millions of pigs in China and elsewhere in the world. United States.
A CARGO IS NOT ENOUGH
Last year, China imposed retaliatory duties on imports of US agricultural products, including soybeans and pork. Tariffs have reduced US crop exports and prompted the Trump administration to compensate US farmers for two-year losses with up to $ 28 billion in aid.
China has been largely turning to South America for soy since the start of the trade war last year. US soybean sales to China in 2018 fell 74% from the previous year.
"Compared to what they were buying before, they have virtually stopped, but some have been successful," said Arlan Suderman, chief commodity economist at INTL FCStone.
Sales of 9,589 tonnes for delivery during the current marketing year are likely to be postponed for delivery the following year, which will begin on September 1, said Don Roose, president of US broker Iowa Commodities.
The cargo sold for delivery during the next marketing year could have been underway before Beijing said Chinese companies are suspending their purchases of US agricultural products, said Terry Reilly, Senior Commodity Analyst for Futures International.
"The government may have given the green light to say, '' Let this be adopted, '' said Reilly.
"A cargo will not change the fact that they do not buy millions of tons of soy."
McKinney had previously told conference attendees that the US believed China had more to do to meet US demand for agricultural trade, citing approvals in biotechnology and other issues.
"This has not been a fair trade relationship," he told Reuters after his speech.
(Report by Karl Plume and Tom Polansek, edited by Caroline Stauffer and Peter Cooney)
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