China poised to buy more U.S. soybeans soon: sources

[December 20, 2018]  BEIJING (Reuters) - China is poised to buy another round of soybeans from the United States, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday, amid a truce in a trade war with the United States.

A man displays imported soybeans at a port in Nantong, Jiangsu province, China April 9, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

One of the sources said China could buy more than 2 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans, likely before the Christmas holiday on Dec. 25.

The soybean purchase would be the third such round since Washington and Beijing agreed on Dec. 1 to a 90-day detente in trade hostilities, as China seeks to end a bitter dispute that has roiled global markets.

China bought a total of around 2.3 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans in the first two rounds of buying since the trade war truce, according to U.S. Agriculture Department data.

Soybeans are the largest U.S. agriculture export to China, totaling nearly $13 billion in 2017.

Separately on Thursday, China's Sinograin confirmed it had recently bought a few batches of soybeans from the United States, without specifying the volumes purchased.

Reuters reported on Dec. 12 that Sinograin and fellow state-run Chinese firm COFCO had bought more than 1.5 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans in the first major purchases after U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed on Dec. 1 to a temporary halt on new tariffs.

China in July imposed a 25 percent tariff on imports of soybeans from the United States, which remains in place as the two countries negotiate to resolve their trade row by a March 1 deadline.

(Reporting by Hallie Gu and Tony Munroe; editing by David Evans)

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