Iowa, Chinese commercial delegations to sign purchasing contracts Thursday

DES MOINES - State officials say a large commercial delegation from China will travel to Iowa on Thursday to sign more than a dozen contracts to purchase soybeans and health products.

The purchasing contracts are in conjunction with the U.S. visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who met Tuesday in Seattle with Chinese governors from five provinces and a delegation of U.S. governors that included Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad.

The conversations occurred during the Third Annual U.S. – China Governors Forum and Dialogue, which was arranged by the Chinese Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the state of Washington. In addition to Iowa, the states of California, Michigan, Oregon, and Washington also participated.

Last year, the United States shipped $24 billion worth of agriculture products to China, including $14 billion in soy exports. China was Iowa's fourth largest export market in 2014, with exports of manufactured and valued goods exceeding $946.4 million. Overall exports to China for the first six months of this year are up more than 63 percent over that same period in 2014, moving China to Iowa's third-largest export market.

'The state of Iowa has enjoyed a long lasting friendship with our sister state Hebei and with President Xi. We are proud of this relationship and the quality of our goods and services that are exported to China,” Branstad said in a statement.

Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds will be present at the contract signing ceremony in downtown Des Moines on Thursday.

'We are excited to welcome the Chinese commercial delegation to Iowa,” Reynolds said in a statement. 'The signing of these contracts will highlight our world-class agricultural commodities throughout Iowa while delivering quality products to the Chinese people.”