China made the biggest purchase of U.S. corn in history on Tuesday. It’s the second massive deal that China has made for corn in less than a week.
The USDA says private exporters report that China bought 1.76 million tons of corn for shipment during the 2020-2021 marketing year that begins on September 1. The sale passed the previous single-day record corn sale to China that totaled 1.45 million tons in December of 1994. The deal followed a sale of 1.365 million tons to China on July 10, a deal that was spread out over two marketing years.
Last week, China increased its corn and soybean import forecasts for the current season as the country expects to step up its agricultural purchases from the United States. China also booked deals to buy 129,000 tons of soybeans in the 2020-2021 marketing year. Beijing agreed to buy $80 billion worth of U.S. ag products over the next two years in the Phase One trade deal between the two countries.