March 15, 2012

China fails to sell reserve soy

According to the China National Grain and Oils Information Center, China was not able to sell out any of the 300,000 tonnes of reserve soy it offered at an auction on Tuesday (Mar 13).

The auction attracted no bidders as many processing mills preferred new soy for higher oil yield. Meanwhile, meagre crushing profit has made many plants reduce operating rate, which has caused sluggish demand of soy.

The country's soy imports have dropped month-on-month for three consecutive months. The latest data from the General Administration of Customs showed that China imported 3.83 million tonnes of soy in February, a slump of 17% from a month earlier.

China has launched 30 batches of state soy reserves since December 2010. However, the government only sold out 16,100 tonnes of the total 8.75 million tonnes of soy from reserves at those auctions.