BEIJING – Chinese imports of soybeans from Brazil in April rose from the previous month, customs data showed on Friday, with shipments arriving late.
China, the world’s leading importer of soybeans, received 6.3 million tons of the oilseed from Brazil in April, 120% more than the 2.87 million tons in March, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.
The figures were also higher than the 5.08 million tonnes that China received from its main supplier of soybeans in the same month last year.
Bad weather delayed Brazil’s soybean harvest and exports, reducing shipments to China earlier in the year.
Soybean arrivals from Brazil started to pick up in April and are expected to remain large in May as previously booked shipments clear customs.
China received 1.64 million tons of soybeans from the United States, its second largest supplier, in April, compared to 3.37 million tons in March.
Figures for US supplies were also down from 2.15m tonnes in the same month a year earlier.
In the first four months of the year, Chinese imports of soybeans from Brazil stood at 12.7 million tons, compared to 6.42 million in the same period of the previous year. Shipments from the United States were 15 million tons, down from 21.27 million tons, according to customs data.
Chinese buyers turned to US soybeans because, with the Brazilian crop shrinking, they were cheaper.
Chinese crushers have curbed purchases of soybeans for the period to September due to weak crushing margins, according to traders.
Soybean crushing margins in China have slumped since early March and stood at minus 282 yuan ($41.97) per tonne on Thursday.
($1 = 6.7192 Chinese yuan)
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