China state buyers snap up more US soybeans in latest post-summit purchases

By Ella Cao and Naveen Thukral

BEIJING/SINGAPORE, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Chinese state buyers bought 10-13 Panamax cargoes of US soybeans overnight, the second large-scale batch of purchases since US President Donald Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in September, three trade sources told Reuters on Thursday.

The cargoes, bought by state-owned trading firms, are scheduled for shipment between December and March, they added.

Reuters on Wednesday reported that Chinese state buyers had booked 8-10 cargoes of US soybeans on Tuesday. The US Department of Agriculture later confirmed most of those sales in its daily export sales announcement.

The purchases helped ease concerns after China had largely stayed out of the market for weeks, partly because of the prolonged National Day holiday, with the return of state buyers seen as a sign of continued demand.

Combined, this week's purchases amount to 18-23 cargoes, or roughly 1.2-1.5 million metric tons of US soybeans, according to Reuters calculations. That brings China a step closer to meeting the 25 million-ton purchase target announced by the White House for the 2026/27 marketing year with purchases so far now totalling around 15 million tons.