dailynewsnblog
(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump’s trip to China offered little assurance to US farmers looking for concrete signs of a pickup in trade between the two countries.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Officials promised billions in exports of American goods but gave few specifics, sending soybean futures to a three-week low while cotton fell by its daily trading limit.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in a Bloomberg Television interview said China will make “double-digit billion” purchases of American farm goods annually over the next three years. The new pact would encompass not just soybeans, but “everything else.”
Trump, meanwhile, told reporters on Air Force One that the Asian nation would buy billions of dollars in US soybeans, without any additional details. So far, no new deals have been announced.
Soybean and corn, which initially rose on Greer’s comments, flipped to losses. Cotton fell by as much 4.8% as traders “buy the rumor, sell the fact,” said Louis Barbera, a managing partner at VLM Commodities Ltd., adding that he doesn’t think the “bones of the markets changed” following the meeting.
Farmers and traders have been searching for more concrete details from the talks, including on volumes and timing of crop purchase, in hopes of a deal that would be large enough to transform tough economic conditions.
Growers have been struggling for years with relatively low crop prices and high costs for seeds, fertilizer and machines. Pressures have been compounded by geopolitical tensions including Trump’s tariffs, and most recently by a surge in fertilizer costs linked to the conflict in Iran.
Pam Johnson, a soy grower in northern Iowa, said she “would love to believe” the figures from the summit but is still waiting for more details. “Hyperbole doesn’t pay the bills here on the farm,” Johnson said.
Trump has been striving to court farmers, a key voting bloc for him and the Republican Party, heading into midterm elections. At the same time, growers have become more resigned to US crops becoming a chip in trade negotiations rather than part of an open market. Many still oppose tariffs, which they say are impeding trade and helping rivals such as Brazil to expand market share in China.
“Unfortunately it looks to me like we have negotiated our way into a supplier-of-last-resort position when it comes to soybeans to China,” said Ryan Wagner, who grows soybeans, corn and wheat in South Dakota.
