September 25, 2009
Noble Group anticipates big increase in China's soy imports
China's soy imports are set to rise substantially in the next few years, an executive at commodity trader Noble Group said on Thursday (Sep 24).
Jaime Teke, global head of structured finance at the firm, which this week agreed an US$850 million equity investment from Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp (CIC), said China had little room to expand its own soy crop.
While on the sidelines of the Latin America China Investors Forum in Beijing, he added that one of the major problems is the irrigation system in China. Therefore, imports of soy from Brazil and Argentina will rise substantially.
Noble Group has two soy crushing plants with a total capacity of three million tonnes in China, accounting for 12 percent of the market.
This year, China is expected to import about 40 million tonnes of soy, mainly from the US, Brazil and Argentina. The volume of imports dwarfs China's own harvest of around 15 million tonnes.
