China’s timeline for fulfilling its 12 million metric ton soybean commitments has been a moving target. Originally, the thought was that those sales had to be wrapped up by the end of this month. “It was never realistic that they were going to import 12 million metric tons by the end of December, not realistic,” said Al Kluis, president Kluis Commodity Advisors. Kluis said the information coming from the Trump Administration has not been consistent, but he is confident China will honor the agreement. “This year’s USA bean crop is very good quality and very dry,” said Kluis. “They like to buy those dry U.S. soybeans, put ’em in their strategic reserve, and if they need to, they can leave them there for three to five years before they rotate them out. They’ll get to them, but probably at a pace that’s slower than what you or I would like.” Kluis was one of the featured speakers at the Prairie Grains Conference.
