March 2, 2007

China's soybean imports may exceed 30 million tonnes in 2007

China's 2007 soybean imports are likely to surpass the 30-million-tonne mark, up from 28.27 million tonnes last year, the Dalian Commodity Exchange cited a government think tank as saying Thursday (Mar 1).

This will mainly be due to continued growth in the country's soybean crushing capacity, said the exchange in a statement published on its website, citing China National Grain & Oils Information Centre, or CNGOIC.

China is the world's largest soybean importer, and gets most of its supplies from the US, Brazil and Argentina.

In other statements published on its website, the exchange said China's 2007 soyoil imports are likely to hit 2 million tonnes or even exceed that, while soyoil exports will likely fall due to high domestic prices, also citing CNGOIC.

China imported 1.54 million tonnes of soyoil in 2006, down 8.9 percent from a year earlier, while it exported 117,709 tonnes of soyoil, up 86.7 percent.