China rushes to replenish soybean stocks before Trump takes office
China is targeting a record volume of soybean imports by the end of the year. Thus, in October, the volume of purchases amounted to 8.09 million tons, the largest for this month in four years. Compared to the same period in 2023, the figure jumped 56%, writes Reuters.
According to traders and analysts, US exporters were rushing to get the record soybean crop to China before the presidential election, fearing increased tensions in trade relations between Washington and Beijing if Donald Trump wins.
Against this backdrop, soybean processing margins at Zhizhao facilities improved and meal prices rose. Thus, the most actively traded futures for soybean meal DCMcv1 on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose in price by 3.6% on the news of Trump’s victory in the presidential election. Quotes of Zhengzhou CRSMcv1 rapeseed meal contracts jumped by 4.76%.
China will import very large volumes of soybeans in the next few months in a rush to stock up before Trump takes office in January, according to Rosa Wang of agro-consulting firm JCI.
Total soybean imports in January-October 2024 reached 89.94 million tons, up 11.2% year-on-year. For the whole of last year, the figure was 99.41 million tons. The record was set in 2020 at 100.31 million tons, data from China’s General Administration of Customs showed.
Since 2018, China has diversified its soybean imports, increasing the share of Brazilian products to be able to respond to unfriendly U.S. actions by raising tariffs on North American agricultural products without compromising its own food security.
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