China to increase imports of U.S. soybeans, reduce imports of Brazilian soybeans in 2021
——China’s total soybean imports in 2021 will be 96.52 million tons, down 3.8% from 2020
——China imported 6.09 million tons of soybeans from the United States in December, a month-on-month increase of 68%
——China imported 2.12 million tons of Brazilian soybeans in December, down 43% from the previous month
BEIJING, Jan. 20: China’s soybean imports from the U.S. in calendar 2021 rose 25 percent year-on-year, while imports from Brazil fell nearly 10 percent year-on-year, customs data showed on Thursday.
According to customs data, China will import 32.3 million tons of soybeans from the United States in 2021, up from 25.89 million tons in 2020; and 58.15 million tons of soybeans from Brazil, down 9.5 percentage points from 64.28 million tons in 2020.
Analysts pointed to China’s increased purchases of U.S. soybeans in part to fulfill the U.S.-China trade deal. Based on the Phase 1 trade agreement signed between China and the United States in January 2020, China pledged to purchase $80.1 billion in U.S. agricultural products in the two years from January 2020 to December 2021, of which the import value in 2021 will not be less than $43.5 billion Dollar.
In addition, the delayed soybean harvest in Brazil in early 2021 has delayed exports, which will also help the United States expand exports to China. Rainy weather in Brazil’s soybean producing areas in early January prevented harvesting. In early 2021, China’s crushing plants are actively purchasing, also in anticipation of the increase in domestic aquaculture demand. At that time, China’s pig population recovered from the African swine fever epidemic. In the first half of 2021, China imported 21.57 million tons of U.S. soybeans, a year-on-year increase of 133%; during the same period, it imported 26.13 million tons of soybeans from Brazil, a year-on-year decrease of 20%. But as domestic hog farming profits have fallen, soybean crushing profits have also plummeted, falling to an all-time low in June, slowing demand from Chinese buyers. In addition, just as the peak season for U.S. soybean exports in the fall, Hurricane Ida hit the coast of Louisiana in the United States at the end of August, causing damage to export facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, and power outages caused export facilities to suspend operations for up to five weeks. According to customs data, China imported 10.73 million tons of U.S. soybeans in the second half of 2021, a year-on-year decrease of 35.5%; while imports of soybeans from Brazil were 32.01 million tons, slightly higher than the 31.73 million tons in the same period in 2020.
China imported 6.09 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans in December, nearly doubling from November and up 4 percent from 5.84 million a year earlier, customs data showed, as U.S. soybeans were earlier delayed by Hurricane Ida. Bean cargo arrived.
Brazil exported 2.12 million tons of soybeans to China in December, up 80% from 1.18 million tons in the same period last year, but down 43% from 3.75 million tons in November.