Chinese sign more than $30 billion of contracts

WASHINGTON, May 24 (Reuters) A Chinese business delegation that has been carrying out a 24-state tour since early May has signed $32.6 billion in deals so far, Vice Commerce Minister Ma Xiuhong said.

A Chinese embassy official said the amount was the total for contracts so far and that more could still be signed.

A full breakdown of the deals was not available but they included a $2.07 billion purchase of 5.76 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans, a deal previously announced at the Chicago Board of Trade.

As well, contracts valued at about $3 billion were signed earlier with 11 California companies. They included some of its best-known high-technology firms like Applied Materials Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Oracle Corp. and Qualcomm Inc.

A Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Wu Yi on Wednesday wrapped up two days of closed-door talks with Bush administration officials, headed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, on trade issues between the two countries.

The buying spree seemed timed to soften U.S. Congressional criticism of China's practice of managing its currency's value in a way that U.S. lawmakers and companies complain makes Chinese products unfairly cheap in U.S. markets.

REUTERS DKS PM0515