China, the world's largest soya buyer, imported 4.19 million tonnes of soyabeans in October, the customs administration said on Friday, down 11 percent from the previous month due to lower supply in the global market. China's soyabean imports dropped in September and October after record purchases over the summer months, but they look set to rebound in the final two months of the year as oilseed processors aggressively purchased cargoes of the new US crop.
"A decline in China's soyabean imports in October is because of the delay in the US harvest by a few weeks. Imports are going to rise in November and December. We see a big increase in purchases, especially in December, with US supplies hitting the market," said Vanessa Tan, an investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore. Total imports are expected to reach 12.5 million tonnes in November and December, the China National Grains and Oilseeds Center (CNGOIC), an official think tank, estimated on Wednesday.
Chicago soyabean prices are under pressure from what is expected to be the fourth-largest crop in US history. Front-month contract soyabeans fell to the lowest level since February 2012 this week on expectations that a US government report on Friday will revise up an estimate for the size of the US crop. For the first 10 months of the year, China's soyabean imports stood at 49.9 million tonnes, up 3.3 percent from the 48.3 million in the same period last year.
"Soyameal spot prices in the south have stayed high this year, which shows that there is strong demand," said Guan Xiangfeng, an analyst at Shanghai CIFCO Futures. Spot soyameal prices in Jiangsu and Shandong provinces, large users of feed, are currently at 4,300 yuan ($710) per tonne compared with Dalian soyameal futures at 3,224 yuan, he added. China, which accounts for more than 60 percent of soyabeans traded globally, will import 62.5 million tonnes in 2013, up from 58.4 million in 2012, according to the CNGOIC.
Comments
Comments are closed.