China has booked 440,000 tonnes of US wheat, its largest purchase of the grain from the United States since at least 2020 as it looks to supplement its rain-damaged domestic crop, informed the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The sales announced on Dec. 4 provided a boost for US wheat exports, which the USDA has projected will fall to a 52-year low of 19 million tonnes in the 2023-24 marketing year that began June 1. As of Nov. 23, US export sales were 12.7 million tonnes, 6% behind last year’s pace.
China’s 2023 wheat crop suffered quality issues after heavy rain hit key growing areas just ahead of the harvest, analysts said, and it is importing milling wheat to blend with domestic supplies. China, the world’s biggest wheat producer and consumer, also has been buying Australian and French wheat.
The sales are the latest in a series of Chinese purchases of US soft red winter (SRW) wheat that began Oct. 3, when the USDA confirmed sales of 220,000 tonnes to China, followed by 181,000 tonnes announced on Oct. 13 and another 110,000 tonnes on Nov. 22.
The most recent activity would bring China’s total US wheat purchases for the current season to more than 1 million tonnes, the bulk of which is for SRW wheat.
