EXCLUSIVE-China buys 8-10 US soybean cargoes in first deals since Trump-Xi summit, sources say

Chinese state buyers purchased ​8-10 Panamax cargoes of US ‌soybeans this ​week, the first such deals since the September summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in Washington, ‌three trade sources told Reuters on Wednesday. The cargoes are for shipment from December onwards, they added.

The market had been awaiting signs of renewed Chinese buying after a weeks-long hiatus, ‌partly because of weak demand during the country's week-long National Day holiday ‌earlier this month. The latest purchases were made by state-owned trading firms, the traders said.

The companies paid premiums of $3.10 to $3.20 per bushel over the January Chicago Board of Trade soybean contract, one of ⁠the ​traders said. Each Panamax ⁠cargo carries around 65,000 metric tons of soybeans.

After the September summit, China and the US announced ⁠a proposed list of tariff reductions that excluded soybeans, dampening expectations that private crushers would return ​to the market for additional US supplies. Before the latest deals, China had ⁠bought about 13.7 million tons of US soybeans, already more than halfway towards its 25 million-ton purchase ⁠target ​for the 2026/27 marketing year, announced by the White House.

On Tuesday, Sinograin sold 40.5% of the 518,000 tons of imported soybeans offered at auction, ⁠data from consultancy Mysteel showed. Traders expect further auctions in the coming weeks. China imported 11.88 ⁠million tons of ⁠soybeans in September, down 7.7% from the same month last year, data from the General Administration of Customs of China showed.