The U.S. Soybean Export Council hosted an event in Des Moines Thursday addressing the sale of soybeans to China.
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Last year, members of the Chinese delegation agreed to buy 4.8 million tons valued at $2.3 billion from US shippers after a trade visit.
No details were provided on when the purchases will be made or shipped but Jim Sutter, the Export Council’s chief executive officer, said purchases are expected to be done within the current crop year, which ends August 31, 2016.
Foell, though, says it’s important not to have an over-reliance on soybean sales to China and continue to court customers in Europe and other Asian countries like Malaysia and Vietnam.
“Business in Asia is driven by relationships”, Kimberley said.
Branstad said trade between Iowa and China has “dramatically increased” over the past decade; 30 percent of the soybeans produced in Iowa now go to China.
Branstad noted that he met with Xi in Seattle earlier this week, where he presented the Chinese president with a framed photograph taken in his office with the Hebei delegation in 1985. “We are proud of this relationship and the quality of our goods and services that are exported to China”, said Governor Branstad in a press release. As a leading agriculture state in the nation, Iowa farmers produce food, fiber and fuel that are exported to China.
Thursday’s soybean accord came during President Xi Jinping’s first state visit to the USA, underscoring the agricultural trading interests of the two nations. She’ll be there, along with representatives of the Chinese government.
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“I think it’s pretty neat when the president of China calls you an old friend”, he said.
