Private export companies from the US have shipped 264,000 tons of American soybeans to China, the Department of Agriculture said on Thursday, calling for a conditional trade deal between the two largest economies in the world.

That was the first US government announcement of a soybean sale to the oilseed's biggest purchaser after President Donald Trump said on October 11 that as part of a trade deal, the Chinese will purchase up to $50 billion worth of American farm products.

An earlier United States Department of Agriculture report showed a maximum of 475,200 tons of US soybean exports, including just 68,300 tons in the week ending Oct. 17. The estimates of analysts for the weekly report ranged from 800,000 tons to 1.6 million tons.

A Bloomberg survey has also disclosed that in the first year of a trade deal, China is willing to buy $20 billion in US agricultural products.

Beijing on Tuesday proposed big exemptions to Chinese and foreign soybean producers to exclude businesses from high tariffs on imports of up to 10 million tons of US soybeans, according to two people briefed on the matter.

USDA announced exports to China of approximately 6 million tons of soybeans since the marketing year started on Sept. 1. It contrasts with cancelations of 431,000 tons in the 2018 comparative period and around 8.4 million tons in the 2017 comparable timeframe.

Traders are also keeping a tight watch on US pork exports to mainland China, where the world's largest hog herd had been decimated by a lethal pig virus, raising the need for sustainable food imports.

According to USDA reports, China's overall imports of US pork last week were 2,002 tons, the lowest in five weeks.

That was down from record-high weekly transactions of 152,599 tons recorded in the week ending Oct. 10, though USDA said sales may have been included from previous weeks. As part of the trade issue, China levied strong duties on US pork exports.

Because Chinese commerce ministers boosted their import tariffs on US soybeans in July last year as a form of retribution for US penalties on Chinese goods, the two economic superpowers have been at loggerheads in a growing trade dispute that has rattled businesses around the globe.

Meanwhile, in Brazil, Minister of Agriculture Tereza Cristina Dias said in a Twitter video that her country is optimistic that Chinese authorities will approve more Brazilian meat exporters until Chinese President Xi Jinping visits the country in November.

The Chicago Trade Board soybean futures, on the other hand, are down 2 cents at $9.35-3/4 a bushel during extended sessions, Thursday. Lean hogs in December's Chicago Mercantile Exchange also dropped 0.8 percent at 65,025 cents per pound.