Brazil dominates China's Sep soybean imports at expense of US
China imported 6.88 million mt of soybeans from Brazil in September, 23.4% higher than a year ago, data released by China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC) showed Friday.
The level was however 24.3% less than in August, in line with an overall drop in soybean imports in September of 7.15 million mt from August’s 9.36 million mt.
Total year-to-date soybean imports from Brazil have reached 54.88 million mt, 18% higher than during the same period last year.
Brazilian soybeans have been dominant in 2023, taking 69.6% of the total 78.8 million mt of soybeans brought in this year so far, following a bumper harvest and attractively priced beans, which prompted more interest from Chinese buyers.
The year-on-year rise in September imports of Brazilian soybeans also comes at the expense of cargoes from the US, with US soybean imports sliding by 88.4% on the year to just 133,692 mt.
The level was however 11.3% more than in August, with shipments expected to rise in the last quarter of the year amid the US harvest season.
In the first nine months of 2023, China imported 20.11 million mt of soybeans from the US, outpacing the level from last year by 3.77%.
Corn
Brazil was similarly dominant in China’s corn imports in September, with 1.25 million mt of Brazilian corn clearing customs out of the 1.65 million mt imported.
The level was close to 400% more than in August and compared with zero volumes in September 2022, with the surge coming on the back of a strong harvest and competitive prices.
Corn imports from Brazil are expected to remain firm in the next few months, with Brazil customs data earlier showing around 3.3 million mt of corn exported to China in September.
On the other hand, corn shipments from the US – one of China’s traditional corn suppliers – fell by 57% from August to 193,452 mt, with the level an 87% drop from a year ago.
For the first nine months of this year, however, the US remains the top supplier at 6.2 million mt, followed by Ukraine at 5.34 million mt and Brazil at 3.77 million mt.