U.S. Soybean Exports Jump on Temporary Trade Truce With China

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. soybean-export sales doubled last week to the highest in seven months as shipments to China surged in a break in the 13-month trade war.

In the week ended Sept. 26, total sales rose to 2.08 million metric tons from 1.04 million a week earlier, U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed Thursday. China accounted for 1.56 million.

This month, China has issued waivers on tariffs imposed as part of the trade dispute with the U.S. The countries are set to resume high-level negotiations next week. The buying spree by the Asian nation may be a hedge against more hurdles in talks, said Darin Friedrichs, a senior analyst at INTL FCStone’s Asia commodities division.

On Thursday, the USDA reported exporters sold an additional 252,000 tons of soybeans to China for delivery by Aug. 31 along with 130,000 tons of white wheat for delivery by May 31. A spot sale of the grain by the agency hasn’t been reported to the Asian nation since at least April 2017.

Soybean futures for November rose 0.2% to $9.1575 a bushel at 9:14 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. They have climbed 3.7% this week.

--With assistance from Alfred Cang.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tatiana Freitas in São Paulo at tfreitas4@bloomberg.net;Dominic Carey in Washington D.C. at dcarey5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net, Patrick McKiernan

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