China committed to buy an additional 10 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans in a meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Twitter.
The commitments are a “show of good faith by the Chinese” and “indications of more good news to come,” Perdue wrote.
U.S. President Donald Trump met Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in the Oval Office on Friday and suggested it was likely the globe’s two largest economies would be able to make a deal to resolve their trade war.
Beijing last year imposed tariffs on imports of U.S. agricultural goods, including soybeans, grain sorghum and pork, slashing shipments of American farm products to China.
China resumed buying some U.S. soy in December, after Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping struck a trade war truce, but sales are still lagging.
As of last Thursday, only 7.4 million tonnes of the most recent U.S. soybean harvest had been sold to China, well short of the 26 million in purchases at the same point last year, according to the latest USDA export sales data.
An additional 10 million tonnes in exports would help whittle down massive U.S. soybean stocks that have depressed prices for months.
Perdue did not say on Twitter when China would begin buying the soybeans. Two U.S. soy exporters contacted by Reuters on Friday afternoon said they had not made any fresh sales to Chinese buyers.
