IARN — China bought a good amount of U.S. corn and soybeans last week.
Commodities Broker Greg McBride with Allendale broke down the latest U.S. Export Sales data with the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network Thursday morning.
“We did have good sales for both corn and beans, both over a million tons total,” McBride said. “China again was a big buyer of corn, beans, and even wheat. That looks good. The wheat was actually a bullish number so that should continue to help push that market a little bit higher.”
Old crop corn sales were 981,000 metric tons, up noticeably from the previous week and from the prior four-week average. New crop corn had net sales of 655,400 metric tons. Old crop soybeans came in at 313,000 metric tons, down 67 percent from the previous week and 46 percent from the prior four-week average. New crop beans were at 767,600 metric tons.
The Phase One agreement with China included $200 billion of U.S. agriculture exports over two years. McBride says China isn’t buying at a pace to reach that level yet.
“When it comes to beans, we need to see about a million tons per week,” he said. “What we’ve been seeing is somewhere between a half million and three quarters. They are doing the purchasing, just not at the levels we expect them to be in order to meet that goal. The corn buying has been phenomenal, especially over the last five days.”
“The biggest thing we’re worried about right now is just the relations between the U.S. and China,” he added. “It seems like they are deteriorating every single day. We need to find a way to mend those fences so that they do keep this Phase One trade deal intact.”
The next weekly U.S Export Sales Report will be released Thursday, July 23rd.
McBride’s full interview can be heard at the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
