Bloomberg reports on the matter, citing people familiar with the situation
The report says that Chinese government officials have told major state-run agricultural firms to pause purchases of some American farm goods, including soybeans, as Beijing looks to evaluate the recent escalation in tensions between the US and China.
Chinese buyers are also said to have cancelled an unspecified number of US pork orders, although private companies have not been told to halt imports yet, according to the source.
Going back to soybeans purchases, Cofco and Sinograin were said to have made pricing inquiries for 20 to 30 cargoes of US soybeans at the end of last week but have held off on purchases now amid orders stemming from Beijing.
The dollar is paring some a bit of its losses on the day on this here after falling to fresh lows on the day. AUD/USD has pared back gains from 0.6770 to 0.6740 while EUR/USD has eased a little from 1.1150 levels to 1.1120 levels at the moment.
Quite frankly, if the focus is on soybeans then this shouldn't be much of an issue. China has been purchasing most of its soybeans this year from Brazil anyway, as per what the Global Times reminded us here last week.
But it does stoke fears of broader sentiment and action I guess, amid the ongoing riots and protests in the US as well as the issue with Hong Kong.
