July 23, 2010

 

China H1 soy import surge 17%

 

 

China imported 25.8 million tonnes of soy from January to June, a rise of 17% from 22.1 million tonnes during the same period last year, according to statistics released by the General Administration of Customs.

 

In the first half of this season, most of China's soy were imported from the US but from March, South America took over with heavy sales from Brazil and Argentina, it said. Of the imports, 13.8 million tonnes of soy were imported from America, 9.6 million tonnes from Brazil, and 2.3 million tonnes from Argentina.

 

China imported 256,000 tonnes of soyoil during the first half, compared with 444,000 tonnes during the same period last year. Import from Argentina fell from 278,000 tonnes to 154,000 tonnes. Import from Brazil increased from 98,000 tonnes to 134,000 tonnes.

 

According to Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World forecast on Tuesday (July 20), China's October 2009-September 2010 soy imports are likely to rise to 49.7 million tonnes, up 8.6 million tonnes from last season.

This is above the USDA's forecast on July 9 of 48 million tonnes of Chinese soy imports in the season, in turn up from the department's June estimate of 47 million tonnes.

 

Meanwhile, rapeseed imports came to 819,000 tonnes, compared with 1.2 million tonnes during the year-ago period.