China's March soyabean imports hit 6.1 million tones

China's March soyabean imports climbed to 6.1 million tonnes, setting a record for the third month of the year as attractive hog breeding margins and flows of newly harvested supplies from South America lifted demand. Imports by China, which buys around 60 percent of the total soyabeans traded worldwide, jumped 35.3 percent from 4.51 million tonnes in February, figures from the General Administration of Customs of China showed on Wednesday.
"We are seeing pretty strong soyabean imports and it is on the expected lines as new supplies from Brazil are hitting the market," said Paul Deane, senior agricultural economist at ANZ Bank in Melbourne. "When you look at what is going on in China, feeding margins for hogs are pretty strong. There is strong demand for soyabean meal, which is likely to continue."
Chicago soyabean futures climbed to an eight-month high on the data, rising for a fourth consecutive session with prices also underpinned by fund buying and concerns over rains limiting the harvest in Argentina. In China, Dalian soyabean futures gained 1.7 percent by 0325 GMT. China, which consumes about half of the world's pork supplies, is in the middle of rebuilding its hog herds after two years of low prices forced farmers to cull their breeding sows.
The shortage of breeding animals has pushed up domestic retail hog prices in mid-March to near a record high of 29 yuan a kg, up 35 percent on a year earlier. Soyabeans are crushed to produce soyameal, a protein rich animal feed ingredient, and cooking oil. China bought 4.49 million tonnes of soyabeans in March last year. The previous soyabean import record for March was in 2012 at 4.826 million tonnes. The surge in China's soyabean imports is also in part driven by high palm oil prices. Malaysian palm oil futures climbed to a two-year high late last month on concerns over dry weather from the El Nino weather pattern reducing production. The palm futures have fallen back some since, but the values are still high enough to boost demand for soyabean oil at the expense of palm oil. China's imports of all vegetable oils in March were 520,000 tonnes, up 30.0 percent from the previous month.