China’s commitment to purchase set volume of US soyabeans questioned

Traders have doubts that China will fulfil its commitment to purchase 12M tonnes of US soyabeans in 2025 and 25M tonnes/year from 2026-2028 as part of an agreement signed between the two countries at the end of last month, according to a 4 December World Grain report. Six cargoes of US soyabeans were reportedly loading or in line to load this week at US Gulf ports for shipment to China, with a seventh enroute. The shipments would be the first deliveries of US soyabeans to China since earlier in the year, the report said. China had bought 1.584M tonnes of US soyabeans for delivery in 2025/26 over three days during the week of 16 November, the largest one-week purchase in more than two years, World Grain wrote. China’s November bookings for shipment in 2025/26 totalled 2.151M tonnes, along with a 100,000-tonne “good-faith” purchase on 30 October, the report said. The orders had pushed up US soyabean futures and prompted selling of soyabeans in the country, where farmers had held ...