UPDATE 2-China inks $6.7 bln U.S. soybean deal, largest ever

　　
　　http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2110030120110122
　　
　　Fri Jan 21, 2011 7:06pm EST
　　
　　
　　 * Two-day total sales agreement for 11.56 mln T, $6.68 bln * China signs deals Friday to buy 8.45 mln T US soybeans
　　 (Recasts, adds quotes, background) By Karl Plume CHICAGO, Jan 21 (Reuters) - China wrapped up its biggest
　　ever one-off U.S. soybean purchase on Friday in a $6.7 billion
　　deal equivalent to nearly half of last year's total trade,
　　surprising dealers who had expected a more symbolic volume. With a second tranche of deals on Friday to buy 8.45
　　million tonnes, Chinese firms traveling as part of President Hu
　　Jintao's state visit signed up to purchase 11.5 million tonnes
　　of soybeans for delivery over the next year or so, enough to
　　sate China's total import needs for two or three months. While such deals are a de rigeur part of almost any
　　high-level political trip, traders were surprised by the scale
　　of the agreement. Although the bulk purchase doesn't
　　necessarily mean that China will import more U.S. soybeans than
　　last year's 54.8 million tonnes, it may be enough to spur
　　prices on Monday. "It's a phenomenal amount of soybeans. If China wanted to
　　make a big splash here then they sure did. I don't think anyone
　　was looking for 11 million tonnes of sales," said Jack
　　Scoville, analyst with The Price Futures Group. "I would imagine that part of this reflects their concern
　　that prices could go sharply higher in the coming year," he
　　said. The contracts also underscored the growing importance of
　　U.S. grain exports to the world's largest country, which is
　　expected to surpass Mexico this year as the second-largest
　　buyer of U.S. farm products. China needs to import increasing
　　volumes of protein-rich food to feed its swelling urban ranks. "The Chinese soybean industry wanted to show their support
　　for their president when he was in the United States and in so
　　doing they also wanted to show their commitment to having a
　　long-term supply relationship with the U.S. soybean industry,"
　　said Paul Burke, director of global marketing and industry
　　relations with the U.S. Soybean Export Council, which announced
　　the deals. DELIVERY IN 2011/12 YEAR Several Chinese importers, including COFCO and Sinograin,
　　signed deals with U.S. grain companies such as Cargill Inc
　　[CARG.UL], Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM.N) and Bunge Ltd
　　(BG.N) and international suppliers like Louis Dreyfus Co. The previous single-day purchase agreement record was in
　　June 2008, when Chinese buyers agreed to buy $4.5 billion in
　　U.S. soybeans. Private exporters reported a record 2.24 million
　　tonnes in soybean sales to China the following day under the
　　U.S. Agriculture Department's daily reporting system. Grain traders said most of the soybeans were for delivery
　　in the 2011/12 (September-to-August) marketing year, a period
　　in which Chinese companies have barely made any purchases to
　　date. U.S. soybean futures climbed to a 30-month peak this month
　　amid a robust Chinese demand outlook and worries about crop
　　output in parts of South America, a key production area. Analysts said it was difficult to gauge if this week's huge
　　purchase agreements were above and beyond what China, the
　　world's largest soybean importer, would otherwise be buying
　　from the United States, the world's top exporter. China is projected to import 57 million tonnes of soybeans
　　in the 2010/11 marketing year which ends on Aug. 31, including
　　24 million tonnes from the United States. [ID:nN19250568] The country's imports in 2011/12 were expected to be at
　　least as large as the current marketing year, but broader
　　economic factors would determine how large an increase it may
　　be.
　　 (Reporting by Karl Plume and Julie Ingwersen;editing by Sofina
　　Mirza-Reid)
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
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　　Comments (1)
　　tomloveswine wrote:
　　
　　China will purchase other material items to make the trade deficit look better and to keep from hold more US Treasuries. China presently holds 985 billion dollars of US treasuries and I am sure they would love to get rid of all of them. The Federal Reserve now holds 5 trillion of US Treasuries and they have no method to pay off that debt other than they own the printing press.
　　Gold is another item that China will purchase because they can get rid of dollars and have something of value also. Gold purchase is considered an export item for the trade deficit.
　　
　　轉者評：中國花67億美元購買轉基因大豆，為有史以來最大訂單。同志們，中國內部一定有大量有實權的美國金融寡頭與中情局控制的內鬼?？v觀拉丁美洲、非洲、亞洲個第三世界國家之20世紀史，這種情況太正常了。

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