U.S. corn sales to China show continued activity following Phase 1 trade deal

In Washington, D.C., U.S. Grains Council reports that 756,000 metric tons (29.8 million bushels) of U.S. corn sold to China the week ending March 19, 2020, demonstrated follow through on commitments made in the U.S.-China Phase 1 agreement signed in January and provided much-needed positive demand news for U.S. farmers.

The single sale brought total sales of U.S. corn to China to more than 817,000 tons (nearly 32.2 million bushels) thus far in the 2019/2020 marketing year, based on weekly export figures reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA’s FAS). In addition to these sales to China, USDA reported 252,000 tons (9.9 million bushels) of sales for the week ending March 26 to unknown destinations, which are widely expected to go to China.

While these commitments are sales – meaning the grain has yet to be shipped overseas and could be subject to change – if realized, they would exceed marketing year-end corn exports to China for the last seven marketing years.

Together with substantial purchases of U.S. sorghum, these sales provide encouragement that U.S. farmers and agribusinesses are seeing results from the Phase 1 agreement with China. That agreement also promised structural changes that should provide U.S. grain products improved access to the Chinese market over the long term.