Beijing’s commitments to purchase US soyabeans has led to a modest increase in American sales to China, CNBC reports.
US soyabean sales to China – the world’s largest importer of the oilseed – had plunged amid recent trade tensions between the two countries and Beijing had diversified its sourcing to Brazil and Argentina in a bid to ensure food security, the 23 June report said.
According to CNBC analysis of Chinese customs data accessed through Wind Information, although the USA and Brazil each accounted for around 40% of China’s soyabean imports a decade ago, the South American country started to take a far larger share in 2018 after the first round of US tariffs on China.
As of the first five months of 2026, more than 60% of Chinese soyabean imports came from Brazil, 23% from the USA and 10% from Argentina, the data showed.
According to official US figures, the value of American soyabean exports to China plunged by 76% last year to US$3.1bn, down sharply from a peak of US$17.9bn in 2022.
Despite this, at 7.37M tonnes, US soyabeans remained the largest American agricultural export to China during the last calendar year.
In May, following US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, the White House said China would buy agricultural commodities worth at least US$17bn/year through to 2028.
That amount would be “in addition to the soyabean purchase commitments it [China] made in October 2025”, CNBC reported at the time.
In a previous meeting between Trump and Xi last year, the USA said China had agreed to purchase 12M tonnes of US soyabeans in the marketing year ending August 2026 and at least 25M tonnes/year of American soyabeans over the following three marketing years.
China had bought all 12M tonnes of US soyabeans that it had agreed to purchase up to August 2026 with the bulk of that volume shipped, Jim Sutter, CEO of the US Soybean Export Council told CNBC.
Purchases of the subsequent 25M tonnes had begun in the week before the report, he added.
According to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data published on 17 and 18 June, private exporters had reported sales of 132,000 tonnes of soyabeans for delivery to China in the marketing year ending 31 August 2027, as well as sales of more soyabean shipments to unknown destinations spread over two years. Sutter noted such unknown destinations often turned out to be China.
There were further signs of a modest pickup in sales, according to industry sources.
“In the last week-and-a-half, the Chinese have committed to buy nearly a million metric tonnes of crop we’ll start harvesting this September,” Jerry Slocum, director of the United Soybean Board (USB), told CNBC.
“So, we’re seeing the agreement the two presidents made … come to fruition.”
Despite the uptick in US soyabean exports to China, trade sources said they had doubts about a scale up in shipments.
Sutter said he expected export volumes to remain around 25M-30M tonnes for the next few years, before potentially climbing towards 40M tonnes metric in subsequent years.
