During a mid-season market outlook for soybeans webinar, NDSU Extension Grains Marketing Specialist Frayne Olson addressed the conflicting messages on the phase one trade deal between the U.S. and China. According to the Trump administration, China is living up to the agreement; yet market analysts suggest otherwise. Olson said it all depends on how the agreement is viewed and there’s a lot of vague pieces in this deal. “In calendar year 2020, the agreement was China would buy an additional $22.5 billion dollars,” said Olson. “It’s an increase over the 2017 levels. The challenge we have right now is there wasn’t a dollar value established for the 2017 number, at least, not in the information that’s publicly released. There’s uncertainty on how we track and score this.” Olson said China’s buying strategy is all about finding the best value. “The important part of China’s recent grain purchases, at least when it comes to the trade deal, isn’t if these purchases are for old or new crop, it’s a matter of how many dollars of product they’re buying.”
