Soybean imports to China from Brazil in October were up 71% year-on-year

China’s soybean imports from Brazil rose 71% in October from a year earlier, helped by lower prices after a record harvest in the South American country.

China imported 4.81 million tons of oilseeds from Brazil last month, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Record shipments of Brazilian soybeans are expected to lead China’s imports in the last three months of 2023, a period usually dominated by freshly harvested soybeans from the United States, traders and analysts said in early November.

October shipments from the U.S., China’s second-largest supplier, fell to 228,264 tons from 772,787 tons a year ago.

China’s purchases from the U.S. have been well below the usual pace this year, but the world’s largest soybean importer has booked large shipments from the U.S. in a wave of purchases in recent weeks.

The flurry of soybean import deals coincided with uneven weather conditions that marred the start of the soybean growing season in Brazil, the world’s largest soybean supplier.

China’s imports totaled 5.16 million tons in October.

In the first 10 months of 2023, China imported 59.68 million tons of Brazilian soybeans, up 21% from the same period last year.

Total U.S. imports this year fell 1.8% to 18.78 million tons, the data showed.

Tags: China, Brazil, soybean