BEIJING: China’s soybean imports from Brazil jumped 31.6% in June from a year earlier, data showed on Thursday, after large cargoes of cheap beans reached Chinese ports.

The world’s top buyer of soybeans imported 9.53 million metric tons of the oilseed from Brazil, its largest supplier, versus 7.24 million tons a year earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

Chinese buyers took advantage of this year’s huge Brazilian soy crop and attractive prices to ramp up purchases this year. Total arrivals last month reached 10.27 million metric tons, and imports are set to stay high through the summer, traders say.

China is also likely to buy a larger volume of the oilseed from Brazil than usual for September to December, three trade sources said, as prices of new-crop US shipments rise on expectations of lower supply.

Shipments from Brazil in the first half of this year hit 29.7 million metric tons, 2 million metric tons higher than last year’s level, the data shows. June arrivals from the United States reached 527,586 tons, down 32% from a year ago.

US shipments for the first half are still higher than last year, however, at 19.7 million metric tons, up from 17.54 million metric tons in the first half of 2022.

For corn, arrivals from the United States fell to 1.23 million metric tons, down from 2.07 million metric tons a year ago, while Ukraine was the second supplier with 567,000 metric tons.

Soybeans, corn, wheat rise on US dryness, Ukraine supply woes

Total Chinese corn imports in June came to 1.85 million metric tons, down 16% on the year, data previously showed.

A deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine’s grain for the past year expired on Monday after Russia quit and warned it could not guarantee the safety of ships.