January 22, 2008 

 

China imports more soy and rapeseed, less corn and wheat for 2007

 

 

China's soy imports in December rose 20 percent on-year to 2.93 million tonnes, according to figures from the General Administration of Customs released Tuesday (January 22, 2008).

 

Total imports of soy last year rose 9 percent to 30.82 million tonnes .

 

China is the world's biggest importer of soy and gets most of its supplies from the U.S., Brazil and Argentina, the world's leading soy producers.

 

For the year, soy imports from the USA rose 17 percent to 11.5 million tonnes even though December imports registered a 26-percent drop to 1.3 million tonnes,

 

Soy imports from Argentina for the year saw a 32.9-percent increase to 8.3 million tonnes while imports from Brazil saw a 9.1-percent drop to 10.6 million tonnes, indicating Argentina is closing the gap with the US and Brazil.

 

The preference for Argentinean soy was further highlighted in December, when soy imports from Argentina climbed 228 percent to 1.2 million tonnes while that from Brazil was at 335,256 tonnes, after having climbed 44 percent.

 

In December, the country's soyoil imports were unchanged from a year ago at 262,764 tonnes. However, for the year, soyoil imports had shot up 83 percent to 2.8 million tonnes.

 

Soy oil imports from Argentina, the chief supplier, increased close to 79 percent to 2.2 million tonnes while that from Brazil, the second largest supplier, rose 53.7 percent to 403,464 tonnes.

 

China's wheat import from the US and barley imports from Australia fell sharply during 2007. On the other hand, its barley imports from France gained more than five-fold.

 

China's soymeal imports from India for the year fell nearly 80 percent for the year but rose 175 percent on-year in December.  India is the chief supplier of soymeal to China, accounting for 102,557 of the total 104,912 tonnes imported for the year.   

 

For the year, China's US corn imports fell close to 95 percent to 3,620 tonnes. This was more than made up for more supplies from Myanmar and Laos, which rose to 15,098 (+1,577.5 percent) and 16,266 tonnes   (+229.9 percent) respectively.

 

China's import of rapeseed for the year, chiefly from Canada, rose 12.8 percent last year to 833,105 tonnes. However volumes fell 87.5 percent on-year in December to 7,843 tonnes. 

 

Rapeseed meal imports, chiefly from India, rose 14 percent to close to 290,000 tonnes while December imports rose 3.3 percent on year to 21,104 tonnes.