On the morning of November 9, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump jointly witnessed the signing of MOU between COFCO Corporation and ADM under which both sides will further strengthen cooperation in soybean trade in the future.
Before the signing ceremony, COFCO Corporation party secretary and Chairman Zhao Shuanglian attended Sino-U.S. entrepreneurs’ dialogue and delivered the first speech on behalf of Chinese entrepreneurs. He noted that the U.S. is the number one agricultural powerhouse and the largest exporter of agricultural products in the world while China is the world’s largest producer of agricultural products as well as the largest grain market with the most growth potential and huge room for cooperation. Since China is advancing agricultural supply-side structural reform which boosts the upgrade of agricultural products consumption, China and the U.S. see bright prospect in agricultural cooperation. Over the years, COFCO Corporation and the U.S. have maintained favorable trade relations. Given the long-term cooperation with ADM, Mr. Zhao hoped that both sides should continue to deepen cooperation in the future and make joint contribution to the agricultural development of two countries, thus laying a foundation for more robust bilateral relations in the future.
In 1978, COFCO reached cooperative agreement with Coca-Cola, which then returned to China’s mainland market, becoming a historic symbol for the establishment of Sino-U.S. economic and trade contacts. In 1979, COFCO started to embark on grain trade cooperation between China and the U.S.
At present, the U.S. is COFCO’s second largest import source of agricultural products. COFCO mainly imports soybean, wheat, sorghum, vinasse, ethanol, corn etc. from the U.S. In 2016, COFCO imported products valued at $2.34 billion from the U.S., accounting for 25.3% of the total value of COFCO’s imported products. COFCO mainly exports textiles, spices, Vitamin E, canned fruit, cereals, cocoa and other products. In 2016, COFCO exported products valued at $130 million to the U.S., accounting for 13.4% of the total value of COFCO’s exported products.
