Do governments buy bulk goods from other countries?

Listened to this podcast today about China buying rice from America. https://www.npr.org/2019/08/20/752895462/why-chinas-buying-rice-from-america

What I don’t understand is the role of “countries” In importing. If I buy rice from the supermarket, it wasn’t bought by the government but by the local supermarket chain from an agricultural producer somewhere in Asia. Maybe I’m dumb, can someone explain the role of governments versus firms in this context? I was thought important experts were the results of firms activity.

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