December 21, 2005

Bird flu affects China's soybean imports

China's soybean imports have slightly slowed down due to the negative impact of bird flu in some regions recently.

Official statistics indicate that soybean imports during the first ten days of December totalled only 0.69 million tonnes, with total imports for the month expected to be less than two million tonnes. This would be slightly less than the 2.09 million tonnes imported in December 2004.

From January to November, soybean imports reached 23.98 million tonnes. 2.56 million tonnes were imported in November alone.