Chinese imports of American soy shot up in December

According to Reuters, Chinese soy imports from the U.S. increased in December 2019 over the previous year. That’s because China increased purchases of American soybeans during a break in the trade war between the two countries.  China bought 3.09 million tonnes of soy from the United States in December, 44 times the volume of the same period last year, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.

The number also rose in comparison with the 2.56 million tons traded in November. Even so, imports were relatively low compared to the levels of more than 6 million tonnes of U.S. product recorded in 2017 and previous years.  The data showed that a total of 88.51 million tons of soybeans were bought in 2019, and 88.03 million tons in 2018.

It is worth remembering that Beijing promised to buy billions of dollars more in agricultural products from the United States, as part of Phase 1 of the trade agreement between the two countries. Throughout 2019, China brought 16.94 million tons of soy in the U.S., exceeding the 16.6 million tons reached in 2018, when shipments were almost halved compared to the previous year due to the trade dispute.  In addition, Chinese imports of soy from Brazil, the largest supplier of oilseeds, reached 4.83 million tons in December, 10% more than in the previous year and 25.1% above November.

Throughout the year, China brought 57.67 million tons of soy from Brazil, down 12.8% from the volume of 66.1 million tons in 2018. The following chart, uses DataLiner data to show Brazilian soy exports to China and the rest of the world between January 2015 and November 2019:

Chart source: DataLiner / Datamar
Report Source: Reuters

 

 

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