China Buys More U.S. Corn and Cotton But Still Lags Deal Pledge

(Bloomberg) -- While U.S. shippers sent sizable orders of wheat, corn, cotton, pork and other agriculture goods to China in May, China would need to pick up the buying pace further to meet its trade-deal pledges.

Wheat and corn monthly shipments were each the largest in more than a year, according to U.S. government data, as Beijing seeks to meet buying targets laid out in the U.S.-China trade deal signed in January that promised $36.5 billion in purchases. Still, even with the boost in grain sales, China was on pace to buy only about $27 billion, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics’ trade-deal tracker.

Thursday’s data doesn’t tell the whole story, since it accounts only for products that were shipped in 2020 through May. That doesn’t include products that have been sold but not yet shipped.

Soybeans traditionally were the highest-value U.S. agriculture export to China. Through May, exporters sent 3.4 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans to China, in deals valued at about $1.25 billion.

However, buyers have purchased nearly 7 million tons of soy to be shipped in the current season that ends on Aug. 31 and during the next season that begins on Sept. 1, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Next season’s total is the highest for this time of year since 2014, the data show.

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