Brazil soybean exports to china drop 20% in July 2019

Brazil soybean exports to China reached 6.32m tons in July 2019, a 20% annual drop due to the outbreak of African swine flu in the Asian country, according to the Brazilian Secretariat of Foreign Trade (Secex).

According to Secex, China accounted for 81% of the soybean exports from Brazil in July 2019. From January to July, China bought 39.22m tons of grain, down 10.6% from the same period last year. Even so, the country still accounts for 74% of Brazil’s total soy exports according to the report.

China is the largest importer of soybeans in the world, accounting for over 60% of global grain purchases, with an average purchase of 88m to 90m tons per year.

However, African swine flu may limit China’s demand for soybeans to 82m tons in the 2018-19 crop, a 13% drop in the year, according to a USDA report released on August 2. This is because the country processes over 80% of imported soybeans to use as animal feed for pigs and other animals.

Despite the threat of African swine flu, Brazilians may start selling more soy to the Chinese market, as the latest escalation of tension between the US and China means that Brazil remains the only major soy supplier according to sources of the sector.

In the first seven months of this year, Brazil exported 53.16m tons of soybeans, down 7% in the year, according to Secex data.

The ports of Santos, Paranaguá, and the Rio Grande were the main suppliers to the Asian markets from January to July. While Santos shipped 15.33m tons of soybeans, the ports of Paranaguá and the Rio Grande transported 6.77m tons and 6.19m tons of soybeans to Asia, respectively, according to the data.

According to Secex, from January to July, Brazil shipped 6.38m tons of soybeans to Europe, its second-largest market.

The main Brazilian ports that transported soy to Europe in the seven-month period were Manaus (1.94m tons), ALF-Belém (1.67m tons), and Santarém (1.26m tons), according to the report.

The following DataLiner graph shows Brazil’s soybean export trends to China from January 2015 to June 2019:

Sources: Platts and Hellenic Shipping News

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