NASHVILLE, TENN. (RFD-TV) — China began purchasing U.S. grain on Thursday morning, the country’s first wheat purchase from the United States in more than a year. Reuters reports that China bought two cargoes of U.S. wheat, totaling roughly 120,000 metric tons. They also report that a shipment of sorghum has left American ports for China.
While last week’s trade talks with China focused on securing a large soybean purchase, the deal has yet to take place. China also agreed to drop a large number of its own agricultural tariffs.
Brady Huck, with Advance Trading, told RFD-TV’s own Tony St. James it likely will not make a big difference. However, he said a formal export program for sorghum would have a significant impact.
“At the end of the day, you know, not really removing any bushels from the market, but certainly opening some doors for U.S. products going forward, hopefully,” Huck told RFD-TV News. “What would really excite me, though, Tony, is if we got some sort of sorghum -- grain sorghum, milo -- export deal, export program rolled out with China. Kansas is the number one milo producer in the [United] States. And we’ve got a great crop in the field, and it would be great to send some of those bushels overseas.”
During President Trump’s meeting with President Xi Jinping, China agreed to buy 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans over the next three years. China announced this week that it is suspending retaliatory tariffs on U.S. farm inputs, but there is still a catch. Reuters also reports that soybeans are not included in that deal and will still face the 13 percent tariff rate.
And while that soybean trade framework is in place, Ohio farmer Chris Gibbs tells us he will believe it when he sees it.
“I don’t think I want to elevate it to deal right at the moment,” Gibbs said. “What we’ve got here are agreements to talk about a framework that were maybe sealed with a handshake. If we had had a trade deal, the President would have opened up one of those black binders, and his signature would have been on it. And so, I haven’t seen any ink yet. So, until I see ink -- particularly out of China -- I’m dubious about calling it a trade deal.”
Gibbs’ farm was one of the stops along the “Motorcade for Trade,” the coast-to-coast event hosted by the group Farmers for Free Trade. He said that, among the many problems facing farmers today, trade has been his top issue since tensions with China began in 2018.
