September 26, 2007

China's 2008 soy imports may hit new record

China-- the world's biggest consumer of soy -- may hit record soy imports next year as local harvest continues to decline and overseas purchase may rise from 28.5 million tonnes to 34 million tonnes in the marketing year from October, said Zhu Yufeng, general manager of Louis Dreyfus Corporation's Beijing office in a conference in Shanghai.

China's soy could fall from 15.5 million tonnes last year to 14.4 million tonnes this year over increased corn and cotton planting, according to the China National Grain and Oil Information Centre. Soy oil output is estimated to increase only by 230,000 tonnes, while the soy imports -- which mainly come from US and Brazil -- might increase greatly. According to the statistics, import of soy in the first eight months was about 19.8 million tonnes, up 2 percent year-on-year. China will reduce soy import tax from 3 percent to 1 percent for 3 months to increase imports.

Dreyfus will boost imports soy into Asian regions because of the high domestic prices, Zhu said.