Is China Buying U.S. Beans?

Is China buying U.S. Beans? Did China buy U.S. pork, maybe corn, ethanol or dried distillers grains? Because of the partial Government shutdown we do not know because the USDA is not making any daily sales announcements. If a foreign importer buys more than 100,000 metric tons it must be reported to the USDA and it is announced. The USDA weekly sales report every Thursday morning is also not released because of the shutdown. So, until the shutdown is over no one knows if China bought U. S commodities.

On the other side, somebody does know, but it is not in their best interest to tell farmers. Commercial elevators that sell and export U.S. commodities around the world know if they have made a deal with China. Pork processors in the United States know if they have made a deal to deliver pork to China. Why would they tell farmers? The price of the commodity would likely increase  if the "market" knew a big sale was made to China.

Do not misunderstand, I am not criticizing those exporting companies. Farmers need them to source the agricultural commodities and have the infrastructure to transport the products around the world. If I had the stronger hand with the commercial elevators I would take advantage of it too! While I have a hard time understanding how the USDA comes up with some of the data in their monthly crop production reports and yield projections, everyone had access to the numbers. It is time for Congress and President Trump to figure out how to make a deal and get the rest of the USDA back to work!