November 27, 2007

China's 2007 soy imports may grow faster
 

China's soy imports may grow faster in 2007 compared with last calendar year, an analyst with commodities analysis firm Shanghai JCI said Tuesday (November 27, 2007).

The analyst said China's soy imports in 2007 may rise to 31 million tonnes, up 9.6 percent on year. In 2006, China's soy imports rose 6.3 percent on year.

In the first 10 months of this year, China imported 24.54 million tonnes of soy, up 4.5 percent on year, with October imports surging 27.3 percent on year to 2.85 million tonnes.

Soy imports will likely remain higher than usual in the fourth quarter, and could be the key reason for the higher forecast.

China's soy imports are expected to stay high in the remaining months of the year, as the government and private companies buy more soy and soy oil to control rising edible oil prices in the country.

However, not all of the soy import shipments booked since October will arrive in China this year, as a number of shipments have been booked for January-March 2008.