Market News & Headlines >> Chinese Soybean Imports Stay Strong

China’s demand for soybean imports continues to grow at a strong rate in 2016-17 amid growth in China’s livestock feed industry and record production in the U.S. and Brazil that has brought down prices.

Chinese soybean imports for April set a new record high for that month at 8.02 million metric tons, according to preliminary Chinese customs data, marking the fourth consecutive month imports have set a record for their respective month. The historical high for any month of the year is 9.5 million metric tons, set in July 2015. 

The April imports were up 13.4% from a year earlier and were 26.7% larger than March imports. Since the start of China’s 2016-17 soybean marketing year last Oct. 1, the country has now imported 49.6 million metric tons of soybeans, up 9.3% from a year earlier. 

China’s monthly soybean imports should continue to pick up seasonally through July or August, before slowing ahead of the new-crop harvest as the government auctions off soybeans from its state-owned reserves.   

USDA has raised its forecast for China’s 2016/17 soybean imports two months in a row and traders will be watching for the department’s first estimate of China’s 2017/18 import demand in Wednesday’s monthly supply/demand report.