The USDA has reported a deal for 220,000 metric tons of U.S. soft red winter wheat for shipment to China in 2023-24. That was the first daily sale of U.S. wheat to any destination since November.
According to Reuters, this unusually large volume of U.S. wheat is a first from China in over two years.
Large U.S. wheat purchases by China have been rare. The last daily U.S. wheat sale to China was in July 2021, also soft red winter wheat.
Despite shrinking U.S. wheat exports, China has recently played a heavier role in that trade, accounting for 7% of U.S. wheat shipments in 2022-23 as the No. 4 destination.
China's top wheat supplier is Australia due to its proximity and recent bumper crops, accounting for more than 40% of imports. The unfavorable El Nino pattern this year may curb the Australian harvest.
Reuters noted weakness in U.S. wheat prices has recently made U.S. wheat competitive on-and-off against rival exporters, though abundant supplies in top exporter Russia have kept pressure on the global market.