January 15, 2004

US Soybean Imports From Brazil Only Food-Grade Shipments So Far

The U.S. has imported a small amount of soybeans this year from Brazil, but the several containers of edible beans brought in so far are only for use in human food, according to U.S. Department Agriculture officials and trade analysts.

"They're food-grade beans. They're not going into crushing," an official with USDA's Foreign Agriculture Service said Wednesday. "It's a small amount - a very small amount."

Dale Gustafson, market analyst for Citigroup Global Marketing in Chicago, said of the Brazilian soybeans: "It's of no consequence, except from the standpoint that it creates confusion. They're going into Houston. They're not being brought in for crushing."

Gustafson said the imports from Brazil are edible beans to be used for food products such as tofu.

A USDA official said the U.S. usually imports a very small amount of "pricey" edible soybeans every year, but they traditionally are not noticed by traders concerned with the massive trade of mostly industrial, feed-grade soybeans.

That would have likely been the case again this year, but media reports of the U.S. importing soybeans without details of the quantity or type of beans have caused market concern.

Despite the fact that the minor U.S. soybean imports so far this year are only food-grade, later shipments, possibly this summer, may be far more substantial and destined for crushing, according to USDA officials and a report released this week.

USDA, in its monthly world supply and demand report released Monday, predicted the U.S. will import 220,000 metric tons of soybeans in the 2003-04 marketing year.

In midday trading at the Chicago Board of Trade, Mar soybeans were 2 cents lower at $8.36 a bushel, and May beans were down 2 1/2c to $8.36.