China's soyabean imports jumped by nearly a fifth in October from a year earlier, customs data showed on Thursday, with buyers stocking up on Brazilian beans amid worries over tight supply in the fourth quarter due to the Sino-US trade war.
China, the world's top soyabean buyer, brought in 6.92 million tonnes of the oilseed in October, up 18 percent from 5.85 million tonnes in the same month last year, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs. But that was down 13.6 percent from 8.01 million tonnes in September.
"The figures were higher than expected. It was likely that some crushers scrambled to buy more cargoes from Brazil as (the) Brazilian bean season neared the end," said Xie Huilan, analyst with Cofeed, an agribusiness research firm. Beijing imposed 25 percent tariffs on a list of US products including soyabeans and grains on July 6, in response to similar measures levied on Chinese goods.
China crushes soyabeans to churn out animal feed ingredient soyameal for its massive livestock herds. Chinese importers have been scooping up Brazilian beans in recent months, leading to bumper stockpiles of soyameal. "We have sufficient supplies of beans, at least until the end of January. Some of our plants had to suspend operations due to high (soyameal) stocks," said a source with a major Chinese crusher.
He declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak with media. China's national weekly soyameal inventory stood at 893,000 tonnes in mid-October, the highest for the month in at least 8 years. Meanwhile, the country's soyabean stocks hit a record-high of 9 million tonnes on October 12. The customs data showed imports for the first 10 months at 76.93 million tonnes, down from 77.3 million tonnes in the same period last year.
China's soyabean imports could drop in the coming months, with some traders predicting a shortage of the oilseed early next year. But some are hopeful that US-Sino trade ties could improve. "My wild speculation is that the trade war might stop after G20 at the end of the month. But no one is buying American soyabeans yet, everyone is waiting," said Tian Hao, a senior analyst with First Futures said before the data came out. The Group of 20 nations is due to meet in Argentina later in November. Imports of vegetable oils in October were 471,000 tonnes, down 18.8 percent from the previous month.