July 9, 2004

China Destroys One U.S Soybean Cargo

China, the world's top soybean importer, has destroyed a cargo of soybeans from the United States in the southern port of Guangzhou due to quality problems, the official Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.

The cargo of 57,000 tonnes of soybeans was found by local quarantine authorities to contain phytophthora, a soil-borne disease.

A Guangzhou quarantine official confirmed the report and said the cargo, which arrived in May, had already been destroyed. She declined to give further details.

China imported 20.7 million tonnes of soybeans in 2003, a rise of 83.3 percent from 2002, of which about 40 percent were imported from the United States, the world's top soybean exporter.

In the last few weeks, the international soy market has had all eyes on China after it refused to accept five Brazilian soy shipments for alleged fungicide contamination.