China is buying more peanuts from the U.S, and farmers are feeling optimistic as exports rise.

In the first seven months of 2017, the U.S. sold $29 million worth of peanuts to China from Texas, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia and other states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The agency forecasts China will buy about $100 million worth of peanuts this year. The industry is optimistic as exports have risen from around $4 million just a few years ago.

According to Agri-Pulse, China bought about $172 million worth of U.S. peanuts last year, roughly a 700 percent increase from the $22 million it imported in 2015.

“Going forward, it’s going to be an important market for the U.S.,” Stephanie Grunenfelder, senior vice president with the American Peanut Council, told Agri-Pulse.

A glut of peanuts in the U.S. in 2015 pushed prices down to around $400 per ton. China stepped in and helped give prices a boost, according to Texas peanut grower Tony Dill.

“Making those big sales to China did help our growers,” Dill told Agri-Pulse. “This last spring in April, when we contracted the 2017 crop, we were getting anywhere from $500 to $550 for our peanuts.”

China’s demand has helped push peanut stocks in commercial storage down 22 percent from last year.

The American Peanut Council, along with the National Peanut Board, has made efforts to ensure China remains a customer.

Grunenfelder said Chinese farmers are showing signs of investing in domestic production. But they lack the efficiency and technology of the U.S. and the available land needed to keep up with their demand for peanuts.

“Their land is pretty well spoken for,” Grunenfelder said. “Peanuts grow on the same kind of prime land that would grow fruits and vegetables. It’s going to be a great new market for U.S. peanuts.”

She said that numbers will fluctuate over the next couple years, but they see longterm markets to China growing.

Rising incomes in China are driving the increased demand for peanuts and peanut oil, USDA told Agri-Pulse in a statement.

“U.S. peanut exports look bright due to growing demand coupled with limited potential in China to significantly expand acreage, yield and production,” the statement said.