China-U.S. agricultural trade warms up. COFCO reportedly has scheduled six ships of U.S. soybeans.

As China-US trade relations continue to warm up, China is once again increasing purchases of US soybeans. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that China’s state-owned COFCO Group has reserved at least six shipments of US soybeans, with plans to ship them between September and October this year.

Last month, the US Department of Agriculture disclosed that Chinese buyers had previously pledged to purchase 200,000 tons of US soybeans. Driven by the procurement news, Chicago soybean futures rose 3.9% on Monday, marking the largest single-day gain since June 2023; prices in the Asian trading session were largely unchanged.

After US President Trump returned to the White House last year and launched a trade war, China temporarily halted imports of US soybeans. With the two sides reaching a one-year trade truce agreement in October last year, Beijing resumed purchases and completed its first batch of the 12 million-ton US soybean procurement commitment.

In May, after Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the White House said China agreed to buy at least $17 billion worth of US agricultural products and pledged to purchase at least 25 million tons of US soybeans each year by 2028. However, Beijing has not yet confirmed the specific figures released by the US.

Last week, China’s Ministry of Commerce said that, following recent economic and trade consultations, China and the US set guiding targets to expand two-way trade in agricultural products and, in principle, agreed to include the relevant agricultural products in a framework arrangement for reciprocal tariff reductions. Enterprises will follow market-oriented principles and carry out trade independently based on actual needs and market conditions.

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