US soybean exports have been weak in the summer after it has become known that a huge soybean harvest is coming together in Brazil. Now, however, shipments from the US are picking up again, as China, the world's largest soybean buyer, is showing great interest in buying.
Already last week the actual accounts exceeded the expectations of the market participants. This year, only a week more US soybeans were delivered to China. More and more buyers are now benefiting from the large over-offer in the US. US beans are currently very cheap on the world market.
US farmers are also preparing for their largest soybean harvest and the supplies from the old harvest are still more than 10 million tonnes. This is the fifth largest final stock the USDA has so far shown. The global ending of soybeans of the 2016/17 season is estimated at a record volume of 97 million tonnes.
As China buys almost 2/3 of the soybeans offered on the world market, the country is of great importance in reducing the overhangs. For the season 2017/18 (Sept / Aug), only 3.49 million tonnes were sold as sold until August 10th.This is 46% less than on the same cut-off date last year and the smallest amount since 2006, according to the USDA.
Since US soybeans are currently 12 USD / tonne cheaper than those from Brazil, Chinese importers are turning to US suppliers. The US consulting firm AgResource says that from the third week of September, China is "extremely short" with soybeans and still has to price a lot.
Last week, the USDA reported daily sales of 549,000 tonnes of US beans to China and unknown destinations. This was the largest amount in two months reported by government workers. In addition, last week, Chinese importers signed non-binding contracts for 3.8 million tons of US soybeans in a press-effective ceremony in Omaha, Nebraska. In the last month, purchases of over 12.5 million tonnes were signed in Iowa during a similar ceremony.
Premiums on the US golf have risen by more than 10%, while the prices on the futures exchange fell to a 2-1 / 2-month slump. 
