Chinese crushers have bought up to six cargoes of US soyabeans this week, helped by a strong recovery in margins that provide security for wary international suppliers following massive defaults.
Traders said on Friday the Chinese soya business was slowly returning to normal after serious disruptions in the past few months amid sluggish soyameal demand. Healthy margins, coupled with prospects of soya shortages in some parts of China, helped suppliers and some crushers reach compromises on fresh terms, they said.
"Crushing margins are so good that people are probably pulling out money from under their pillows to buy beans," said a trader based in southern China. "It's very tempting for everybody."
Traders said Chinese crushers had bought five or six cargoes of US soyabeans for October and November shipment at cost and freight premiums of about 200 US cents per bushel over the Chicago November contract.
"It is possible (for crushers to accept the tough trade terms) because many crushers need beans," said one official at a crusher in eastern Shantung province.
With US soya prices under pressure from a looming bumper crop, they calculated Chinese crushing margins were now as large as $50 a tonne as demand picks up ahead of the autumn festival.
Chinese soyameal prices stood firm at around 2,800 yuan in the north and the east, and close to 3,000 yuan in the south.
The trader in southern China expected Chinese soya imports for shipment between September and November to reach four million tonnes, possibly five million instead of the three to four million he had predicted a few weeks ago.
The traders said Chinese port stocks of soyabeans had come down to about 1.8 million tonnes despite slow movement, helped by small imports in the past few months. Chinese soya imports dropped by 15.1 percent to 12.5 million tonnes during the first eight months of this year due to serious trade disruptions since April that followed huge imports.
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