Grant Kimberley, a sixth-generation soybean farmer and marketing director of the Iowa Soybean Association, operates a seeding machine at his family farm in Maxwell, Iowa, the United States, April 26, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

China has not halted purchases of US soybeans as some media reports speculated, and new purchases are ongoing, a senior executive of the US Soybean Export Council (USSEC) told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.

"We have no confirmation that the Chinese government asked Chinese importers to halt purchases and, in fact, new purchases have been announced this week," Jim Sutter, CEO of the USSEC, told the Global Times in a written reply on Thursday.

China has asked its state-owned firms to halt purchases of soybeans and pork from the US amid escalating tensions, Reuters reported on Monday, citing relevant sources. "China is still buying US soybeans," China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday, noting that Chinese state-owned companies had purchased at least 180,000 tons of soybeans from the US on Monday alone.

The US is typically the top exporter of soybeans to China during the autumn season. "As we look ahead to our harvest and shipping window this fall, we are optimistic that China will honor the phase one trade agreement to substantially increase imports of US farm products, including soybeans," Sutter said.

Sutter holds an optimistic attitude that China will return as a significant buyer of US soybeans in 2020 with total volume nearing levels seen in previous years, which would be a significant increase to recent years.   

"We have high hopes for the phase one trade agreement and regaining open access to the largest market in the world for soybeans. From what we've heard, US and Chinese negotiators will keep working to prevent anything from interrupting this historic agreement from being fulfilled for the benefit of US soybean farmers and US agriculture," he noted.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Thursday that he felt "very good" about the progress of the agreement with China, which he said is honoring the pact amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to media reports.

As per the pact, China committed to increase purchases of US goods and services by $200 billion over 2017 levels.

US trade of goods and services plunged in April to the lowest level in a decade as the COVID-19 pandemic dampened consumption demand and disrupted logistics.

China became the largest US trading partner in April as US trade with Mexico and Canada, the top two trading partners, fell sharply by 46.7 percent and 43 percent, respectively, in the month, while China-US trade only fell by 6.79 percent, data from the US Commerce Department showed.

US soybeans to China, which takes a significant stake for the country's agricultural product exports, had faltered last year due to the China-US trade war.

US soybean exports to China amounted to 12.7 million tons for the 2019-20 marketing year which started September 1. At this time last year, accumulated US soybean exports to China were at 6.6 million tons - down considerably from pre-trade war levels of around 30 million tons, data from the USSEC showed.

Despite the new soybean purchase unaffected at the moment amid escalating tensions between the world's two largest economies, it does not mean the soybean card held by China would not be played in case the Trump administration imposes harsh sanctions on China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region over the national security legislation, experts said. 

Trump said on May 29 that he will start to eliminate preferential treatment for Hong Kong.

China has been gradually reducing its reliance on US soybean imports since 2012, Jiao Shanwei, editor-in-chief of cngrain.com, a website specializing in grain news, told the Global Times on Friday.

"China had been stepping up efforts to diversify its soybean import suppliers in the past few years, and the country can significantly reduce its soybean imports, which is a major source of fodder, by putting more low-protein feed in the troughs," Jiao said.

Official data showed that in 2019, Brazil was the largest foreign supplier of soybeans to China, with 65 percent of the total, followed by the US at 19 percent and Argentina at 10 percent.