Sinograin Resumes Large Soybean Auctions Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Sinograin has resumed large-scale auctions of imported soybeans, offering 543,000 tonnes, ahead of an expected Trump-Xi summit in Washington.
China's state stockpiler, Sinograin, has restarted large-scale auctions of imported soybeans after a pause of about a month, according to a notice from the National Grain Trade Centre. The sale is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CST (0530 GMT) next Tuesday and will offer 543,000 metric tons of soybeans produced between 2023 and 2025.
The resumption comes ahead of an expected summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington next week. Traders are looking to the meeting for greater clarity on China's future demand for US soybeans.
Before this announcement, Sinograin had held five auctions of more than 200,000 tons of imported soybeans since July. Traders say those sales were intended to free up storage capacity for anticipated US soybean arrivals.
China has now crossed the halfway point toward its commitment, agreed with Washington last October, to buy 25 million metric tons of US soybeans. However, Beijing still maintains a 10% additional tariff on all US goods, including agricultural products, following a tit-for-tat tariff war last year.
A reduction in the soybean tariff could bring private Chinese crushers back to the US market, from which they have largely been shut out by the duties.