China’s July Soybean Imports Fall amid Poor Crush Margins, Weaker Profits

China’s soybean imports fell 9.1 % in July from a year earlier, according to the customs data last Sunday, as poor crushing margins and weaker consumption in the world’s largest buyer of the oilseed reduced appetite for the cargo.

Communist China imported 7.88 million tons of oilseeds in July, compared with 8.67 million tons a year earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed last Sunday.

The imports were also down 4.5% from a month ago.

Soybean prices have soared this year as bad weather hurt production and exports from Brazil, Communist China’s top supplier.
Demand in Communist China is also weaker than a year ago, as cities such as Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Wuhan faced mass testing, with targeted lockdowns or restrictions to control the spread of the CCP virus (Covid-19).

Rosa Wang, an analyst at agriculture consultancy Shanghai JC Intelligence Co Ltd, said before the release of the customs data that the CCP virus lockdown had curbed consumption and negative profits had reduced pig farmers’ inventories.

Soybeans are pressed into soymeal, a key ingredient of pig feed, and soybean oil for cooking.

Wang added that low crushing margins and high import costs had also dampened crushers’ overseas purchases of soybeans.