State-owned Chinese food and agriculture company COFCO bought three cargoes of US soyabeans ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping on 30 October, according to two anonymous trade sources quoted in a Reuters report.
The two leaders had met in South Korea to discuss issues related to the trade war between the two countries, the 29 October report said.
Following the 30 October meeting, Reuters reported that day that the two nations had reached an agreement to reduce tariffs on China in exchange for Beijing cracking down on the fentanyl trade, resuming US soyabean purchases and maintaining rare earths exports.
China’s purchase of 180,000 tonnes of US soyabeans for December-January shipment was the country’s first purchase of US soyabeans in the 2025/26 marketing year, which started on 1 September, Reuters wrote.
At the time of the 29 October report, COFCO had not responded to a Reuters request for comment.
China, which typically buys large amounts of US soyabeans at this time of year, had sourced most of its September and October supplies from Brazil and other South American countries due to the trade war, which had seen retaliatory tariffs by both countries since tensions escalated last spring, the report said.
In September, China imported no soyabeans from the USA, compared to 1.7M tonnes during the same month in 2024, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.
China, which imports more than 60% of world soyabean shipments, had nearly completed booking cargoes from Brazil and Argentina through November, with limited purchases expected for December and January ahead of the Brazilian harvest, the report said.
“US suppliers have missed out on most of the oilseed crushing business,” Reuters quoted a second oilseed trader as saying, who expected China to need about 5M tonnes of shipments in December and January, for which market conditions favoured Brazil.
