BEIJING: China’s soybean imports from Brazil rose 2.2% in June from a year earlier, data showed on Saturday, as Chinese buyers scooped up lower-priced South American beans.
The world’s biggest soybean buyer imported 9.72 million metric tons of the oilseed from Brazil last month, compared with 9.51 million tons a year earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
June arrivals from the United states reached 1.31 million tons, up more than four times from a year ago, although only about 12% of the total for the month.
Total soybean arrivals into China in June reached 11.11 million tons.
China is facing an oversupply of soybeans as record purchases boost inventories amid weak demand for animal feed, with prices for products such as soyoil and soymeal set to sink.
The surplus also threatens to curb China’s appetite for imports in the September-December period, the peak marketing season for U.S. soybeans.
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Despite the surging arrivals in June, sales of U.S soybeans to China have been sluggish for the 2024/25 new crop that will be harvested in the coming North American autumn.
China booked its first purchase of U.S soybeans for the 2024/25 marketing year this month, buying just 132,000 tons, U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed. Last year at this time, China had already booked 1.72 million tons of U.S. new-crop soybeans.
Brazil has grown its share of the global oilseed market as its soybean production has roughly doubled in the last decade.
Brazil’s 2024/25 soybean crop, which farmers will begin to sow in September across an area likely larger than last season’s, could grow by 13% and reach 171.54 million tons, consultancy Safras & Mercado said last week.
For January-June, China’s imports from Brazil totalled 34.43 million tons, up 16% compared with the same period last year.
Total arrivals from the U.S. in the first half of the year came to 12.2 million tons, down 27% on the prior year, the data showed.
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