January 18, 2013

Since New Year's Day, sluggish demand for soymeal resulted in poor soybean crushing margins, bringing down expectations of the volume of soybean imports sharply for the period of January-February 2013.

China's soybean imports in December reached 5.89 million tonnes, the highest record in a single month since 2011, an increase of 41.58% from the previous month's 4.16 million tonnes, and an increase of 8.7% on-year, as compared to 5.42 million tonnes in the same period last year.

China's soybean imports reached new records in December 2012 as prices of soybean imports from the US fell during November - December, at RMB4,660/tonne (US$749.74/tonne), down 5% from October. The improvement of crush margins in from mid-November also boosted the growth in soybean imports.

Soybean imports reached 58.38 million tonnes in calendar year 2012, compared to 52.63 million tonnes a year ago, marking growth of 10.92% on-year.