China had made progress towards meeting key parts of the "phase one" deal signed between China and the United States earlier this year, said the U.S. on Friday. 

China had bought about 71 percent of the target, or over $23 billion, set under the trade deal in U.S. agricultural goods to date, according to a joint statement by the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) office and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

"Since the Agreement entered into force eight months ago, we have seen remarkable improvements in our agricultural trade relationship with China, which will benefit our farmers and ranchers for years to come," U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in the statement.

Agriculture is one of the four areas where China pledged to increase its purchases of U.S. goods and services. And others are manufactured goods, energy products and other uncovered goods. 

Many experts question whether China will meet its overall targets this year as data earlier showed those purchases lagging amid a global slowdown in the trade as the coronavirus pandemic hit the global economy.

Inevitably, the unprecedented health crisis hit the second-largest economy severely for a while, and May was the month that China saw the worst contraction in imports with a double-digit decreasing year on year. 

But later, as the outbreak has gotten under control thanks to thorough epidemic prevention work, China's trade with major economies picks up. 

In break down, outstanding sales of U.S. corn to China were at an all-time high of 8.7 million tonnes, while U.S. soybeans sales for the marketing year 2021 to China were at double the levels seen in 2017, according to the report. 

U.S. exports of sorghum to China from January to August 2020 totaled $617 million, up from $561 million for the same period in 2017, it said.

U.S. pork exports to China hit a record in just the first five months of 2020, while U.S. beef and beef products exports to China through August 2020 are already more than triple the total for 2017, it said.

Additionally, USDA expects 2020 sales to China to hit record or near-record levels for other U.S. agricultural products, including pet food, alfalfa hay, pecans, peanuts and prepared foods.

China, the only country sees positive trade growth

China out stands in a shrinking global trade with positive growth in the third quarter in 2020, said a United Nations report released on Wednesday.

In the second quarter, no region was spared by an estimated 19 percent year-on-year plunge in world trade, hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions in the economy, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development said.

The organization estimated the global trade to shrink by 4.5 percent year on year in the third quarter and decrease by 3 percent in the fourth quarter, as the global trade is slowly rebounding.

In the third quarter, China's imports and exports have recovered significantly, with exports achieving a strong rebound of more than 10 percent and imports stabilizing in July and August and jumping more than 13 percent in September.

Data from the World Trade Organization also shows that China's foreign trade accounted for 12.6 percent of global trade, up 1 percent from the same period of last year. Both exports and imports hit a record high share in global trade.

China's trade surplus with the U.S. stood at $30.75 billion in September, narrowing down from a surplus at $34.24 billion in August, according to Chinese customs data. 

For the first nine months of the year, the country's trade surplus with the U.S. totaled $218.57 billion, customs data showed.