China expects record amount of US soybean purchases in 2020 – Bloomberg

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

China is reportedly expecting a record amount of US soybean purchases this year as "lower prices help to boost purchases pledged under the Phase One trade deal", Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Further points

“The total imports from the US will probably reach about 40 million tonnes in 2020, which will be around 25% more than the 2017 level - the baseline year for the deal.”

“One of the sources said that despite the forecast and expectation, China's imports will ultimately be decided by soybean prices and the impact of the virus pandemic i.e. no firm commitment.”

This comes a day after China Customs data showed that Beijing imported only 38,331 tonnes came from the US in July when compared to 911,888 tonnes imports from the same period last year and down from the 267,553 tonnes in June.

Market reaction

The China headlines failed to lift the risk sentiment, with AUD/USD still ranging below 0.7200, flat on the day. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 futures post small losses near 3,440 levels.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

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