Following a brief truce in the US-China trade war, announced last Thursday, the 12th, a different fact caught the eye of international news: that fact that the Chinese had bought more than 600,000 tons of soybeans from the Americans. This quantity was confirmed only on Tuesday.
To understand why they confirmed the fact only on Tuesday, we have to do a brief retrospective. The day after the deal (Friday, 13th), only the sale of 204 tons was announced by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). However some analysts believed the rest would be announced this week.
Last Monday, 16th, the USDA announced the sale of another 256,000 tons of soybeans to China, scheduled for delivery in the 2019/2020 season.
And this Tuesday, the total was completed with another 260 thousand tons, also with delivery for the 2019/2020 season. In all, 720,000 tons were traded to China.
Picture: Ivan Bueno/ AnP
Agreement
The announcement of the purchases of the oilseed comes after USA President Donald Trump postponed, by two weeks from October 1 to the 15th of the same month, the planned increase from 25% to 30% in the rates applied to USD 250 billion in products imported from China. Remember that on Friday, 13th, the US agency had announced the sale of another 204,000 tons of grain.
More sales?
According to ARC Mercosur director Matheus Pereira, China can buy from one to two million tons of soybeans from the United States between November and December.
“It could be even more, reaching four or five million tons, depending on how the talks evolved in October. This may have advantages for the Brazilian producer, since prices are formed based on Chicago, which are rising because of the agreement,” he comments.
Pereira believes that Brazil will not feel negative impacts because of this. “I am not saying that these purchases will take away sales from Brazil, because shipments happen at a time when the Brazilian stocks will be tight. The situation should only get bad for the country if the trade war ends, because then, with greater global supply, the premiums paid would fall,” he concludes.
