World Grain - March 2019 - 14

NEWSREVIEW

China commits to soybean purchase from United States
S NG ON, .C., .S.
Chinese officials have committed to urchase
million tonnes of soybeans from the
nited States, according to a Feb.
tweet by .S. Secretary
of griculture Sonny erdue.
he tweet shared on social media stated, "B
NG n
Oval Office meeting today, the Chinese committed to buy an
additional million metric tons of .S. soybeans. ats off to
O S for bringing China to the table. Strategy is working.
Show of good faith by the Chinese. lso indications of more
good news to come."
n early February, .S. resident onald rum said China
was e ected to urchase million tonnes of .S. soybeans.

ith both commitments this would be a total of
million
tonnes of soybeans for China to urchase from the nited States.
n uly
, rum announced
tariffs on various
Chinese roducts. China res onded with retaliatory tariffs on
.S. roducts, including soybeans.
n early ecember, rum and Chinese resident i in ing
agreed to sus end further tariff increases before March , but
it was noted if they could not reach a deal by that date, the
nited States threatened to raise tariffs on
billion of
Chinese goods from
to
.
rior to the trade war, China was the to buyer of .S. soybeans, urchasing
million to
million tonnes er year.

U.S. Grains Council leader to step down
S NG ON,
.C.,
.S.
om
Sleight, resident and chief e ecutive officer C O of the .S. Grains Council
SGC since
, will retire this summer following the a ointment of his
successor.
" have done what intended to accomlish, and as move forward to this new
Sleight
hase of my own life, am confident the
Council is headed in the right direction and oised for continued growth as a relevant, innovative and im actful organi ation," Sleight said.
im Stit lein, chairman of the Council s board of directors,
has a ointed a search committee com rised of re resentatives from its diverse membershi , including the corn, sorghum, barley, ethanol and agribusiness sectors.
" he board of directors of the Council has been re aring
for this transition for some time, and we have a strong global

team in lace that om has conscientiously built to be able
to take on the challenges of a dynamic market develo ment
ortfolio," Stit lein said.
Sleight has worked at the SGC a total of
years, beginning in
, and having done nearly every ob the Council
has to offer. Beginning in rogram im lementation, Sleight
went on to serve overseas in astern uro e and the Soviet
nion, then returned to ashington to direct uro ean,
Middle ast and sia regional market develo ment rograms.
Sleight rounded out his international background by also serving in the .S. administrative side of the Council s o erations,
directing its membershi , communications and administrative rograms.
e left the SGC in
to lead the irginia e artment
of griculture and Consumer Services marketing division
and later the New ork Farm iability nstitute. Sleight returned to the Council as vice- resident in
before being
selected as resident and C O in
.

March 2019 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - March 2019

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