China's soy imports seen at record in June

China is likely to import five million tonnes of soy in June, similar to the record level of 5-5.5 million tonnes seen for May, according to the China National Grain and Oils Information Centre.

The projected May and June imports were up sharply from 4-4.3 million tonnes seen in April, said the official think-tank. Soy imports in July are likely to decrease to four million tonnes again, it said in a report.

Earlier, the centre expected the country's soy imports in 2009-2010 (October /September) to reach a record 44 million tonnes, partly driven by lower imports of soyoil from Argentina.

Chinese buyers are increasing purchases of forward-month soy cargoes from South America and the new crop from the US, with South American soy mainly for June and July shipment, it said at a weekly report.

"Despite low imports of soyoil, due to large crushing volume, coupled with sluggish demand for soyoil over the past two months, soyoil supply will be sufficient," it said, adding that China will see little impact from the restriction of Argentina soyoil imports.

Beijing has expanded pork stockpiling to more provinces, supporting pork prices. Recovering pork prices had increased trading of soymeal, the feed ingredient, with physical prices up by 0.6% last week.

Restocking of poultry has been picking up in many areas, but the soymeal supply was expected to remain in surplus because of large crushing volumes from soy plants.

For the corn market, snow in the northeast led farmers to sell less and threatened corn quality. The government will continue releasing stocks to the market, but prices are likely to stay high.