Sonny Perdue, U.S. Agriculture Secretary, said Monday that China would probably resume purchasing U.S. soybeans around January 1 because of limited supply in South America. Earlier, China suspended the purchase of U.S. soybeans due to trade disputes between the two sides.
But whether China will abolish U.S. soybean import tariffs as part of the weekend special session agreeing to a trade truce remains "to be determined," Perdue said.
Perdue's comments on recent Chinese soybean purchases are inconsistent with those of major U.S. traders. These big traders say China may not need to buy American soybeans before the next crop is harvested in South America in 2019.
China and the United States agreed Saturday in Buenos Aires not to impose new tariffs on each other.
The United States said that China also promised to purchase "very large" quantities of agricultural, energy, industrial and other products from the United States, and that procurement of agricultural products would start "immediately".
Mr. Perdue said he had no details about the scale and timing of agricultural transactions. But he pointed out that China would have to buy U.S. soybeans in the next month or so. During the trade war, China turned to South American soybeans.
"We don't think South America has enough soybeans to keep them on the market for new crops in South America," Perdue said.
"We think they will have to go back to the U.S. market, and we hope that the agreement announced in Argentina will make this happen faster."
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