Chinese trading houses are believed to have washed out two or three US soya cargoes for January shipment last week and switched to domestic soya due to subsidies expected to be offered by Beijing, a source with a major trading house said on Monday.
Persistent rains in the United States have delayed the soya harvest and the loading of cargoes due to arrive in China in November, which will further tighten soyameal supplies already tight because of low imports in October, traders said.
He would not say if he was involved in any of the washouts but said he had direct knowledge of the matter. Traders in other trading houses contacted by Reuters could not confirm the washout.
The source said the cargoes had been destined for crushers in north-eastern provinces, who were now more willing to take soyabeans from the government, which will offer 210 yuan ($30.76) per tonne in subsidy for a total of 1.95 million tonnes of domestic soyabeans. The government will allocate the amount of soyabeans to some crushers in four provinces in the north-east at the end of month.
But crushers in the south, which rely on imported soyabeans, would still need to buy more for January shipment, traders said. Traders said a delay in loading soya cargoes in the United States due to bad weather would lead to low imports in November, at between 2 and 3 million tonnes instead of 4 million estimated earlier, and could further tighten soyameal supplies at home.
"We expect one million tonnes for November arrivals would be delayed; for December, the amount will depend on the loading pace on the US side," said another industry source.
Traders expected soya imports in October to fall further from September to about 2 million tonnes, the lowest imports in two years, with low imports having tightened soyameal supplies.
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