China bought 136,000 tonnes of US soyabeans, the US Agriculture Department said on Thursday, as optimism about a trade deal between the world's two largest economies boosted global markets.
The deal - about two cargoes worth of soyabeans - was the first flash sale of US agriculture products to China since Nov. 1 and comes as the Chinese commerce ministry said the two countries have agreed to cancel in phases the tariffs imposed during their months-long trade war, without specifying a timetable.
Weekly export data also showed that China booked its first deals for US sorghum since August.
The USDA requires exporters to report sales activity of 100,000 tonnes or more of one commodity made in one day. Separately, the government puts out delayed weekly sales totals for all commodities on Thursday morning.
USDA said that export sales of soyabeans to China totalled 956,300 tonnes in the week ended Oct. 31, a four-week high, with 821,300 tonnes being shipped during that period. The weekly shipments were the most since the week ended Feb. 21, when exporters shipped out 1.384 million tonnes to China.
Since the marketing year began on Sept. 1, US exporters have sold about 7.414 million tonnes of soyabeans to China. That is up from 713,990 tonnes during the comparable period of 2018. Before the trade war began in 2017, China had agreed to buy 18.239 million tonnes of US soyabeans by this point of the marketing year, according to USDA data.
Sorghum export sales for the week totalled 123,000 tonnes, the first time China has agreed to buy US supplies since the week ended Aug. 29. China, the world's top sorghum buyer, had accounted for about 80% of US exports before the trade war.
The weekly export sales total also showed that China agreed to buy 2,800 tonnes of US pork in the current marketing year, with shipments of 10,600 tonnes recorded. China also cancelled pork sales totalling 2,000 tonnes for 2020.
China has ramped up imports of pork as its domestic prices soar following outbreaks of African swine fever which has devastated the world's largest hog herd. It is buying US pork even with a 72% tariff on imports.
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