China's soybean imports in July jumped 24.4 percent from the previous month to an eight-month high of 5.35 million tonnes, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Wednesday. July imports, which were up 8.1 percent from a year earlier, have been largely rising since February, although total imports in the first seven months are down 5.5 percent from a year earlier at 29.06 million tonnes.
Vegetable oil imports rose 48.9 percent in July from June to 700,000 tonnes. Slower soybean imports this year are largely a result of weak domestic prices after inflation-fighting measures by the central government, including the release state soy and edible oil reserves and price caps on retail oil, hurt crusher margins. After suffering from negative margins for much of the year, Chinese crushers finally broke even in July, on higher soyoil prices, analysts said.
Crushers have also rushed to ship in more soybeans on expectations of strong seasonal demand during the festive months of September and October, with many also betting a government call to ramp up hog production will push up demand for animal feed. The Ministry of Commerce said last week that soybean imports in August could fall to 3.15 million tonnes, basing its forecast on reports from imports during the July 1-15 period.The ministry's forecast for July imports was 4.97 million tonnes.