2018年10月28日,位于北卡罗来纳州卡塞尔顿的枫河谷物和农艺码头临时储存大豆。[照片/ic]美国农民希望,自7月份中美贸易战开始以来,中国首次购买美国大豆的声明,只是全面恢复粮食贸易的开始。美国农业部周四宣布向中国私人销售113万吨美国大豆。美国农业部副部长史蒂夫森基(SteveCensky)周四在爱荷华州大豆协会年会上说:“拥有一百万吨半的大豆是非常棒的,非常棒,这是一个伟大的步骤。”农业部长桑尼·佩杜在华盛顿对记者说:“但也需要有更多的产品,尤其是在一个正常、典型的年份,我们将向中国出售3000至3500万公吨的产品。我们认为这是一个很好的开端,很有希望。”“我们当然有希望,并期待它能成功,”他说,在谈到进一步的销售。爱荷华州科塔市的一位大豆农场主、美国大豆协会(ASA)主席约翰·海斯多弗(JohnHeisdorffer)同意坎斯基的评论。他说:“要使美国大豆价格回升,中国的大豆销量要大得多。”我们有大量的存货。所以,我们通常需要看到更多的销售增长,价格将很难。即使在今天,随着这一消息的公布,期货价格也在下跌。由于对贸易停战的乐观情绪,本月物价已回升约3.3%,但仍较今年3月的高点下跌约14%。农产品期货资深分析师布赖斯·克诺尔(bryce knorr)表示:“一些交易人士可能对美国农业部的公告没有达到更高的数额感到失望。然而,这些大宗交易有时需要几天时间来处理,因此交易可能会在一天左右出现。”来自北达科他州库姆的农民、美国大豆协会董事会成员乔希·盖克尔(Josh Gackle)说,中国购买大豆可能是“事情可能朝着正确的方向发展”的一个信号。“即使购买规模”只是一年中这个时候他们通常购买量的一小部分。因此,它没有解决我们所面临的长期问题。“gackle还提到了当前大豆的低价:“如果我们今天必须出售我们的大豆,价格远远低于盈亏平衡点或大豆的利润线。”“gackle是大豆排名第五的州的第三代农民。”氮素生产。他也种植小麦和大麦,但大豆是他的主要作物,在一年中占据了他3000英亩农场的一半。关于中美当前的贸易争端,他说:“我想我们是大豆种植者,总的来说,我们只是在敦促美国政府在贸易谈判中把美国农业作为一个积极因素,与中国的贸易和农产品的更多销售将减少总统试图解决的贸易赤字。“我认为针锋相对的贸易战对任何一个国家都没有帮助。”路透社对此作出了贡献。
Soybeans in temporary storage at the Maple River Grain & Agronomy terminal in Casselton, N.D., Oct. 28, 2018. [Photo/IC]

US farmers hope that the announcement that China has bought US soybeans for the first time since its trade war with the United States began in July is just the beginning of what will be a full resumption of trade for the grain.

The US Department of Agriculture announced private sales of 1.13 million tons of US soybeans to China on Thursday.

“Having a million, million-and-a-half tons is great, it’s wonderful, it’s a great step,” USDA Deputy Secretary Steve Censky said at an Iowa Soybean Association annual meeting on Thursday. “But there needs to be a lot more as well, especially if you consider it in a normal, typical year, we’ll be selling 30 to 35 million metric tons to China.”

“We think it is a good start, it is promising,” Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue told reporters in Washington. “We are certainly hopeful and expecting that it’ll come through,” he said, in reference to further sales.

John Heisdorffer, a soybean farmer in Keota, Iowa, and chairman of the American Soybean Association (ASA) agreed with Censky’s comments.

“It will take a lot more sales to China to bring the price of US soybeans back,’’ he said. ``We got a huge amount of stock. So, we generally need to see a lot more increase in sales, and the price is going to have a hard time. Even today, with the announcement, the futures were down.’’

Soybean futures in Chicago traded 1.4 percent lower on Thursday. While prices have recovered about 3.3 percent this month on optimism over the trade truce, they’re still down about 14 percent from this year’s high in March.

Bryce Knorr, senior analyst with Farm Futures, said, “Some in the trade may have been disappointed that the USDA announcement wasn’t for a larger amount. However, these large deals sometimes take several days to process, so the transactions could show up in a day or so.’’

Josh Gackle, a farmer from Kulm, North Dakota, and a member of the American Soybean Association board of directors, said that China’s purchases of soybeans may be a sign ``that things might be moving in the right direction’’ even if the size of the purchases “was just a fraction of what they would typically buy this time of the year. So it hasn’t addressed the long-term problem that we are facing.’’

Gackle also mentioned the current low price for soybeans: “If we have to sell our beans today, the price is just too far below what the break-even point, or what the profit line is for soybeans.’’

Gackle is a third-generation farmer in a state that ranks fifth in soybean production. He also grows wheat and barley, but soybeans are his main crop, taking up half of his 3,000-acre farm during a typical year.

On the current trade dispute between China and the US, he said, “I guess we soybean growers in general, we are just urging the administration to use American agriculture as a positive in the trade negotiation, and more trade with China and more selling of agriculture products would reduce the trade deficit that the president is trying to address. A tit-for-tat trade war I don’t think is helpful for either country.’’

Reuters contributed to this story.