BEIJING: China, the world's largest soybean buyer, imported 6.33 million tonnes of the beans in March, a record for the month, as supplies from presale orders landed, figures from the General Administration of Customs of China showed on Thursday.
March imports were up 3.8 percent from 6.1 million tonnes in the same month a year ago and were 14.3 percent higher than February's 5.54 million tonnes, the data showed.
"It is in line with the market expectation. Crushers signed many presale contracts around Spring Festival time in January and February, when there was a mismatch of supply and demand," said Monica Tu, an analyst from Shanghai-based consultants JC Intelligence Co (JCI).
Soybean imports are expected to climb even higher in the coming months, reaching over 8 million tonnes, according to analysts and traders.
"Pressure on supplies will start kicking in around April," said JCI's Monica Tu.
China bought 19.52 million tonnes of the oilseeds in the first quarter of 2017, up 20 percent from the same period last year, according to customs data. Imports for January were 7.66 million tonnes, data showed.
Vegetable oil imports in March were 450,000 tonnes, up 9.8 percent from the previous month but down 13.5 percent from a year ago.
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