China has put back on track a trip to the United States to buy soybeans, which was abruptly canceled last month when a trade dispute with Washington broke out, a U.S. industry official said on Wednesday.

In a possible easing of tensions between the world's top and fifth-largest economies, Chinese soybean buyers have indicated they would visit Chicago in two weeks and meet with grain companies to possibly sign purchase contracts.

China, the world's top soybean importer and the biggest market for U.S. soy, has yet to reschedule a visit by its wheat buyers to the United States that was also scrapped when Washington slapped import quotas on Chinese textiles.

Some U.S. officials have blamed job losses in the United States on the rapid rise of Chinese textile imports, claiming that China's currency was undervalued against the greenback.

Beijing retaliated by scrapping planned visits to the United States to buy wheat, cotton and soybeans. It would have been China's first coordinated buying trip to the United States.

"They have indicated to us that they will be in Chicago on Dec. 17 and 18," said Paul Burke, Asia division director at the American Soybean Association. The ASA farmers group will host the Chinese delegation.

The trip will follow a visit to the United States by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who will meet with President Bush on Dec. 9 in Washington.

In the runup to his visit, the Bush administration had been pressuring Beijing to narrow China's huge trade surplus with the United States, which is projected to rise about 15 percent this year to $120 billion and is a hot political issue.

Wen is scheduled to sign deals in Washington to buy five 737 aircraft from Boeing Co. Boeing and General Electric Co. have announced deals to sell China a total of 30 737s and $3 billion worth of jet engines.

Before the trips were scrapped, grain traders had expected China to buy about 1 million tonnes of wheat from the United States worth $300 million to $400 million, as a goodwill gesture and also to whittle down the trade surplus.

News of the Chinese team's rescheduled visit to Chicago was cheered by grain traders, who rallied soybean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade on Wednesday.

"It gave a psychological boost to the market," said grains analyst Charlie Sernatinger of brokerage O'Connor & Co.

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