SAO PAULO: US-based meat processor Perdue is shipping one cargo of 31,450 tonnes of Brazilian soybeans into the United States, according to line-up data from shipping agency Cargonave, as stocks dwindle in the destination market.

The Four Turandot vessel chartered by the United States is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday at the port of Barcarena in the north of Brazil, and is expected to sail on May 9, the Cargonave ship line-up data shows.

Perdue did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brazil, the world's largest soy producer and exporter, very seldom sells to the United States. China is the main buyer of its soy.

The United States, the world's No. 2 exporter and producer, typically imports only small volumes of soybeans every year. The country's grain handling infrastructure is built for large-scale bulk exporting.

When US domestic supplies are exceptionally tight, crushing facilities on the US East Coast normally are the first to import as costs to ship beans from the Midwest by rail can be higher than import costs, traders said. Importing margins for those facilities are currently favorable for shipments from late spring through the summer months, they said.

US soybean stocks are projected to shrink to a mere 9-1/2-day supply in September ahead of the next harvest, the tightest on record, according to US Department of Agriculture data analyzed by Reuters.

The United States imported nearly 2 million tonnes of the oilseed in the 2013/14 season and just over 1 million tonnes in 2012/13, according to USDA data. The USDA is forecasting 953,000 tonnes of soybean imports in the current season, although some traders say volumes could go higher.