U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that China has agreed to buy 12 million metric tons of American soybeans during the current season through January and has committed to buying 25 million tons annually for the next three years as part of a larger trade agreement with Beijing.

Soybean trading. tariffs, weather in the midwest.

China’s state-owned COFCO bought three U.S. soybean cargoes. the country’s first purchases from this year’s U.S. harvest, shortly before a summit of leaders Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Tuesday he is hopeful the Trump administration will come up with a plan to “improve morale among farmers” in response to the apparent loss of the Chinese soybean export market. 

The U.S. soybean harvest began in September without any orders from the world’s largest buyer: China.