UPDATE 2-China inks $6.7 bln U.S. soybean deal, largest ever
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2110030120110122
Fri Jan 21, 2011 7:06pm EST
* Two-day total sales agreement for 11.56 mln T, $6.68 bln * China signs deals Friday to buy 8.45 mln T US soybeans
(Recasts, adds quotes, background) By Karl Plume CHICAGO, Jan 21 (Reuters) - China wrapped up its biggest
ever one-off U.S. soybean purchase on Friday in a $6.7 billion
deal equivalent to nearly half of last year's total trade,
surprising dealers who had expected a more symbolic volume. With a second tranche of deals on Friday to buy 8.45
million tonnes, Chinese firms traveling as part of President Hu
Jintao's state visit signed up to purchase 11.5 million tonnes
of soybeans for delivery over the next year or so, enough to
sate China's total import needs for two or three months. While such deals are a de rigeur part of almost any
high-level political trip, traders were surprised by the scale
of the agreement. Although the bulk purchase doesn't
necessarily mean that China will import more U.S. soybeans than
last year's 54.8 million tonnes, it may be enough to spur
prices on Monday. "It's a phenomenal amount of soybeans. If China wanted to
make a big splash here then they sure did. I don't think anyone
was looking for 11 million tonnes of sales," said Jack
Scoville, analyst with The Price Futures Group. "I would imagine that part of this reflects their concern
that prices could go sharply higher in the coming year," he
said. The contracts also underscored the growing importance of
U.S. grain exports to the world's largest country, which is
expected to surpass Mexico this year as the second-largest
buyer of U.S. farm products. China needs to import increasing
volumes of protein-rich food to feed its swelling urban ranks. "The Chinese soybean industry wanted to show their support
for their president when he was in the United States and in so
doing they also wanted to show their commitment to having a
long-term supply relationship with the U.S. soybean industry,"
said Paul Burke, director of global marketing and industry
relations with the U.S. Soybean Export Council, which announced
the deals. DELIVERY IN 2011/12 YEAR Several Chinese importers, including COFCO and Sinograin,
signed deals with U.S. grain companies such as Cargill Inc
[CARG.UL], Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM.N) and Bunge Ltd
(BG.N) and international suppliers like Louis Dreyfus Co. The previous single-day purchase agreement record was in
June 2008, when Chinese buyers agreed to buy $4.5 billion in
U.S. soybeans. Private exporters reported a record 2.24 million
tonnes in soybean sales to China the following day under the
U.S. Agriculture Department's daily reporting system. Grain traders said most of the soybeans were for delivery
in the 2011/12 (September-to-August) marketing year, a period
in which Chinese companies have barely made any purchases to
date. U.S. soybean futures climbed to a 30-month peak this month
amid a robust Chinese demand outlook and worries about crop
output in parts of South America, a key production area. Analysts said it was difficult to gauge if this week's huge
purchase agreements were above and beyond what China, the
world's largest soybean importer, would otherwise be buying
from the United States, the world's top exporter. China is projected to import 57 million tonnes of soybeans
in the 2010/11 marketing year which ends on Aug. 31, including
24 million tonnes from the United States. [ID:nN19250568] The country's imports in 2011/12 were expected to be at
least as large as the current marketing year, but broader
economic factors would determine how large an increase it may
be.
(Reporting by Karl Plume and Julie Ingwersen;editing by Sofina
Mirza-Reid)
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Comments (1)
tomloveswine wrote:
China will purchase other material items to make the trade deficit look better and to keep from hold more US Treasuries. China presently holds 985 billion dollars of US treasuries and I am sure they would love to get rid of all of them. The Federal Reserve now holds 5 trillion of US Treasuries and they have no method to pay off that debt other than they own the printing press.
Gold is another item that China will purchase because they can get rid of dollars and have something of value also. Gold purchase is considered an export item for the trade deficit.
转者评:中国花67亿美元购买转基因大豆,为有史以来最大订单。同志们,中国内部一定有大量有实权的美国金融寡头与中情局控制的内鬼。纵观拉丁美洲、非洲、亚洲个第三世界国家之20世纪史,这种情况太正常了。
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