China's soyabean imports in 2004/05 will fall 1 million tonnes from last month's estimates because of lower protein meal demand, the US Department of Agriculture said on Thursday.
USDA pegged China's soyabean imports for this year at 23 million tonnes. While lower than last month's USDA estimate, the import estimate for this year was significantly higher than 2003/04 imports of 16.90 million tonnes.
There will also be lower-than-expected soyabean imports this year in Indonesia and Thailand, USDA said. World soyabean ending stocks for 2004/05 were forecast at 50.2 million tonnes, up from last month's estimate of 47 million tonnes and last year's ending stocks of 36.19 million tonnes, USDA said in its monthly forecast.
Brazil's ending stocks were forecast at 21.47 million tonnes, up from last month's projection of 18.58 million tonnes. Argentina's soyabean ending stocks were forecast at 15.97 million tonnes, up from July's USDA estimate of 15.06 million tonnes.