Reuters International reported, this Tuesday (22), that China released a new quota of 10 million tons of soybeans imported from the United States exempt from the 25% tariff. According to the agency, the quota is given to private and state-owned oilseed processing companies and trading companies with plants in China.
The volume was defined in a meeting with representatives from Beijing, according to sources heard by Reuters, and a meeting that takes place weeks after American President Donald Trump announced that the Asian nation should expand its purchases of North American agricultural products to somewhere between US$ 40 billion and US$ 50 billion.
The Chinese government, however, has not yet issued an official statement about the new quota.
Information gathered by the international consultancy ARC Mercosul shows that a conference call between high-ranking representatives from China and the United States had been scheduled for this Friday, October 25th.
The news of this new quota comes at a time when the market is still waiting for more information about the partial agreement that was signed between the two parties, around 10 days ago, in Washington, but about which the market still does not know more details and definitions, nor when it comes into force.
“The fact that only one quota was released, which represents less than two months of import needs from China, shows that nothing has yet been resolved and they are solving a situation for the short term”, believes Steve Cachia, consultant at AgroCulte and Cerealpar. “In other words, it is not possible to declare an end to the trade war yet. Everything is still open, including for us to see a deterioration in negotiations again”, he adds.
This Monday (21), Trump said “they started buying. I want more,” in a meeting held at the White House, referring to China’s purchases of North American agricultural products. The information comes from the international news agency Bloomberg.
SOY FROM BRAZIL
In addition to the market's lack of knowledge about the details of the so-called 'phase one' of the partial agreement between China and the USA, the market is still paying attention to the purchases that the Asian nation continues to make in Brazil. Its largest concentration of purchases remains in the Brazilian market, including a focus on supply from the 2019/20 harvest.
“Chinese buyers have been purchasing a lot of Brazilian soybeans. The government was sending a message for importers to pay attention to the general scenario”, said one of the sources interviewed by Reuters Internacional.
Source: Agricultural News
