(Bloomberg) -- The Chinese government is in discussions with state and privately-owned soybeans buyers over a plan to raise purchases of U.S. supplies, according to people familiar with the situation.
The government met with the companies on Friday in Beijing to discuss the plan to purchase more soybeans that could include waiving retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. The government is seeking feedback from companies and the plan is subject to change depending on the progress in trade talks, the people said. Details including potential purchase volumes are yet to be finalized, they said.
The exemption may be valid for orders made within a 30-day period, the people said. Initial estimates suggest volumes could be between 3.8 million and 6 million tons for shipments in September, one of the people said.
The latest plan follows complaints by President Donald Trump that China hasn’t increased its purchases of American farm products, a promise he said was secured at a meeting with the country’s president, Xi Jinping, at the Group of 20 summit last month. Trump last week reiterated that he could impose additional tariffs on Chinese imports if he wants.
China made goodwill purchases of American farm goods earlier this year via its state-run firms Cofco and Sinograin during a truce in their trade war, but private buyers had been put off from large purchases because of the import tariffs. Nobody replied to an email sent to the Chinese commerce ministry.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Alfred Cang in Singapore at acang@bloomberg.net;Niu Shuping in Beijing at nshuping@bloomberg.net;Steven Yang in Beijing at kyang74@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anna Kitanaka at akitanaka@bloomberg.net
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