China, the world's largest soya buyer, imported 8.68 million tonnes of beans in November, rebounding 48 percent from the prior month as a backlog of shipments from the United States arrived at ports, customs data showed on Friday. The November figures were also up 11 percent on year, thanks to robust demand in the world's top buyer of the oilseed, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.
The monthly import figure was the sixth highest since 2007 when Reuters records started. Year-to-date imports were 85.99 million tonnes, up from 74.92 million last year, and exceeding the total for the whole of 2016.
China imports soyabeans to crush into soyameal, a key ingredient in animal feed for the world's biggest herd of pigs. The herd is expanding and small farms are being replaced by large, modern facilities that rely on industrial feed. Strong demand has supported soyameal prices and generated healthy crush margins since early August, fuelling appetite for more imports despite delays in getting import certificates.
Some cargoes from the United States were also delayed after exporters struggled to find high-quality beans following crop damage from hurricanes. Arrivals are expected to hit 9 million tonnes again in December, spurred by strong demand in the run-up to Lunar New Year, the country's biggest festival and the peak season for meat consumption.
Imports of vegetable oils in November were 540,000 tonnes, up 14.9 percent from the previous month.
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