BEIJING: China's soybean imports in September fell 30% from the same month the previous year, customs data showed on Wednesday, as poor crush margins curbed demand.
China, the world's top buyer of soybeans, brought in 6.88 million tonnes of the oilseed in September, down from 9.79 million tonnes last year, General Administration of Customs data showed.
Chinese crushers stepped up purchases of soybeans earlier in the year in anticipation of strong demand from a fast-recovering pig herd.
Demand started to weaken, however, as plunging hog margins pressured crush margins.
Crush margins in China hit their lowest on record in June and stayed in negative territory until late August.
Hog margins in Sichuan, a top pig producing region, plunged nearly 3,000 yuan this year and were at a negative 336 yuan.
Crushers brought in soybeans to crush into soymeal to feed the massive livestock sector and for cooking oil.
The September figures were also sharply down from 9.49 million tonnes in August, data showed.
China imported 73.97 million tonnes of soybeans in the first nine months of the year, down 0.7% from the same period last year, according to the data.
Shipments in October were expected to be smaller than the previous year as well, as low margins continued to curb buying while slow US exports due to hurricane Ida would also reduce arrivals, traders said.
Some Chinese crushers in main production regions were forced to shut down due to the worst power outages in years.
Soymeal cash prices rose because of disruptions to operations, which supported crush margins.
China's weekly soybean and soymeal inventories were down from the previous year as of last Friday, according to the myagric.com agriculture consultancy.
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