China now top U.S. ag export market

China bought more than $10 billion in U.S. farm goods in the first six months of the year to become the country's No 1 agricultural export market, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Thursday. China is the world's largest importer of cotton and soybeans. It roiled the grain market with a purchase of 369,000 tonnes of U.S. corn on May 13, its largest purchase since 2001, and creating hopes of steady, large sales to Beijing. The world's most populous nation and a dynamic economy, China has shot to prominence as a U.S. farm export market over the past few years...more