China may become the world’s largest buyer of wheat

China is already the world’s largest importer of corn and soybeans, but the country is now poised to overtake Egypt and Turkey as the largest buyers of wheat, official Chinese and U.S. data show, Bloomberg reported. China has imported more than 1 million tons of wheat each month since October 2022, peaking at 1.68 million tons in April. Meanwhile, in 11 months, wheat shipments from Australia totaled 7.2 million tons, 2.6 million tons from Canada, 1.1 million tons from the United States, 1 million tons from France and 0.2 million tons from other countries.

According to the data of the US Ministry of Agriculture, China may import about 12 million tons of wheat in 2023/24 MY, especially taking into account that heavy rains damaged crops in one of the largest regions for grain production in the country – Henan province.

This will benefit wheat producers around the world, but will hurt demand for other feed ingredients, such as corn and soybeans, as more wheat goes to feed livestock.

Tags: China, wheat