China's soyabean imports edged down 1.2 percent in August from the month before, with buyers slowing shipments as they waited for the release of beans from state reserves. The nation imported 7.67 million tonnes of the oilseed in August, which was also 1.4-percent lower than the previous year, customs data showed on Thursday. That marked the third consecutive drop in year-on-year import numbers, with declines also driven by higher global prices that have shrunk margins for Chinese crushers.
China is the world's biggest buyer of soyabeans, accounting for about 60 percent of globally traded volumes. Chinese buyers had expected state sales of beans to start earlier in the year, although the auctions were eventually delayed until mid-July. "Talk in the first half of the year that there would be reserve sales meant that crushers did not plan large soyabean imports during this period," said Monica Tu, analyst at Shanghai JC Intelligence Co Ltd (JCI), referring to the August to October arrivals.
High global prices also curbed buying after crushers had already built up large stocks early in the year. That will see September and October imports drop to below 6 million tonnes, according to JCI. Total imports for the first eight months stood at 54 million tonnes versus 52.4 million tonnes a year ago. Imports are expected to rebound later in the year, after China signed major deals to buy from the United States. Appetite for soyabeans offered by the state reserve has been tepid, however, with only 1.2 million tonnes sold so far out of close to 4.5 million tonnes put up for auction.
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