China made its biggest daily purchase of soybeans from the United States since November on Wednesday, the latest sign of improving trade ties as Beijing moves towards fulfilling commitments announced after US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The US Department of Agriculture said private exporters reported sales of 472,000 tonnes of soybeans for delivery to China, the greatest daily export sale to the country since November.
“China has a long way to go to reach their commitments, but this is a positive signal that they have intentions to do so,” said Mark Knight of grain merchandising firm Farmer’s Keeper, adding the purchase had been rumoured in the marketplace for several days.
“Like this week’s purchases, I would also expect China to show good faith in September when Xi visits,” Knight added, referring to the Chinese leader’s planned visit to Washington later this year.
The purchases come after Trump and Xi’s high-stakes Beijing summit in May, and a general commitment about US agricultural products that surfaced two days after the talks in a brief White House statement.
According to the White House, China agreed to buy at least US$17 billion per year of US agricultural products from 2026 through 2028, in addition to the soybean purchase commitments it made in October 2025.
China did not publicly confirm these figures in its own statement, but officials have said the two countries are working to preserve the trade truce reached in South Korea last year and to ease some tariffs on certain agricultural products.
The earlier soybean commitments were agreed upon during Trump and Xi’s meeting in Busan, South Korea, when Beijing pledged to buy 12 million tonnes of US soybeans during the remainder of 2025, and at least 25 million tonnes annually from 2026 to 2028.
In addition to the purchases announced on Wednesday, state-owned trading firm Cofco booked at least another five cargoes overnight for loading mainly between September and October, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.
These follow at least six cargoes that were booked earlier in the week.
Cofco did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the South China Morning Post.
A typical soybean cargo is around 60,000 tonnes, with the USDA reporting at the end of June that Chinese buyers had committed to 200,000 tonnes of new-crop soybeans.
The Wednesday sales were split with 136,000 tonnes for “delivery during the 2025/2026 marketing year” and 336,000 tonnes “for delivery during the 2026/2027 marketing year”.
Meanwhile, US soybeans face a 13 per cent tariff entering China, compared with only a 3 per cent tariff for Brazilian soybeans. This 10-point gap stems from a retaliatory tariff Beijing imposed last year.
The US’ largest competitor in soybean exports to China is Brazil and, according to last year’s customs data, it accounted for more than 70 per cent of China’s total soybean imports.
“A tariff drop can do nothing but help the cause. Coupled with harvest pressure later in the year, this should entice more purchases. I wouldn’t expect a lot more at these current price levels,” Knight said. — SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
