June 2, 2009
China cancels three US soy cargoes for June, July
Chinese soy importers have agreed with suppliers to cancel two to three 60,000-tonne US cargoes in the past week as prices climbed and inventories piled up.
Two of the estimated three cargoes due to be shipped from New Orleans in June and July, have instead been resold on the domestic US market, where CBOT soy futures rose to an eight-month high last week.
Traders said China was likely to have shipped in a record 4.5 million tonnes of soy in May and are expected to import similar volumes in June.
The trade estimates are higher than those from China's Commerce Ministry, which expects the country's May imports to reach 4.29 million tonnes and 4.11 million tonnes in June.
Due to lower margins and sluggish demand from the animal feed industry, buyers may be prompted to delay shipments in June but sellers are unlikely to agree.
For the first four months of this year, China's soy imports jumped 36.24 percent to 13.86 million tonnes as importers increased their purchases following the Chinese government's policy to boost reserves lifted domestic prices, making margins attractive for crushers.
