(Jan 12): China is restarting soybean auctions — after a three-week pause — in an apparent attempt to clear storage space as it keeps buying from the US following the trade truce between the two countries.
Sinograin will put 1.13 million tonnes of soybeans up for sale on Tuesday (Jan 13), according to a statement published on the website of the National Grain Trade Center late Friday. The state-run grain stockpiler held several auctions in December, the first such sales since Beijing and Washington reached an agreement at a meeting in South Korea in late October.
China has stepped up purchases of American soybeans and committed to buy at least 12 million tonnes by the end of February, according to officials in Washington. State firms returned to buying from the US from late October and have booked a flurry of cargoes since then, putting the world’s biggest importer on track to meet the apparent target.
The unusually large offer on Tuesday comes after feed producers and crushers secured about 900,000 tonnes of soybeans in the past three auction rounds, out of a total of nearly 1.58 million tonnes put up for sale, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data from China-based commodities consultancy Mysteel.
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