China purchased about 60% of U.S. soybean exports valued at more than $12 billion in 2017. The purchases so far confirmed Monday were less than $500 million.
“There was talk we’d see like 5 million tonnes over the next few days, so we will need some follow-through buying from China, especially outside of Sino,” one U.S. trader said, referring to China’s state-run buyer Sinograin, told Reuters.
China stepped away from U.S. soy following retaliatory tariffs on U.S. shipments back in July 6. U.S. exports to China declined to 8.2 million tonnes in the first 10 months of the year, compared to 21.4 million for the same period year-over-year.
After the suddenly drop off in Chinese demand, U.S. soy prices plunged to their lowest level in a decade – SOYB is still down 5.9% year-to-date despite the recent run up.
For more information on the commodities market, visit our commodity ETFs category.