(Bloomberg) -- China plans to store cargoes of American soybeans bought earlier this year that are yet to be delivered, as the trade war between Washington and Beijing escalates, according to people familiar with the matter.
The soybeans will be sent to boost state stockpiles rather than being processed, said the people, who asked not to be identified as they aren’t authorized to speak publicly. While the majority of the purchases were already destined for state reserves, some were being crushed.
China has put further purchases of American supplies on hold after trade talks reached a standstill, but the world’s largest importer of soybeans doesn’t plan to cancel the cargoes it had already bought, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month. The nation is yet to receive about 6.9 million metric tons of American supplies, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
China purchased U.S. soybeans from December to March after the two nations had reached a temporary trade truce. Since talks soured, Chinese buyers have turned to South American supplies and state-run companies don’t expect to receive any further orders to buy U.S. soybeans.
Nobody answered a call to state stockpiler Sinograin. A fax sent to China’s commerce ministry wasn’t immediately responded to. Reuters reported the news earlier.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Niu Shuping in Beijing at nshuping@bloomberg.net;Isis Almeida in Chicago at ialmeida3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anna Kitanaka at akitanaka@bloomberg.net, James Attwood, Pratish Narayanan
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