Analysts Waiting For China To Act On Phase One Trade Deal

Analysts in the U.S. are waiting on the Chinese to make their move.

 

Dan Basse is president of AgResource Company in Chicago.

 

"We have this phase one agreement, the agreement was signed on the 15th of January. There's a 30-day period to implement that agreement. That means February 15th, which is this weekend. So next week we'll really start to see if the Chinese have any intentions of buying U.S. grains or ag products. It will be very important to the markets. There may be a little bit of flexibility to coronavirus, but overall the traders here want to see, taste and feel the Chinese demand before they get too rambunctious on the long side of the market."

 

The USDA released its February WASDE report Tuesday morning, which Basse says was very conservative with estimates about the Chinese phase one agreement.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.