China has booked its first purchases of U.S. soybeans for the 2024/25 marketing year, buying 132,000 metric tons of the oilseed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed in a sales announcement.
The world’s largest soy buyer has stepped up its purchases in recent weeks and is expected to import a record volume of soybeans in July, but traders believe that most of the deals have involved low-priced Brazilian supplies.
Sales of U.S. soybeans have lagged, particularly sales of the 2024/25 new crop that will be harvested this autumn. A year ago at this time, China had already booked 1.72 million metric tons of U.S. new-crop soybeans, USDA data showed.
The sale came as Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures Sv1 fell to their lowest since November 2020.
As of June 27, 960,000 tons of U.S. new-crop soybeans had been sold to unknown destinations, according to USDA data, which could include China. A year earlier, U.S. new-crop soybean sales to unknown destinations totaled 1.265 million tons.
Brazil has taken a larger share of the global oilseed market as its soybean production has roughly doubled in the last decade. The USDA projects that Brazil will harvest a record-high 169 million tons of soybeans in 2024/25.
“U.S. soybean exports to China will continue to face fiercer competition from a forecast higher production in Brazil and (Argentina) in MY (marketing year) 24/25,” noted a report released July 5 by the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service attache in Beijing.
Soybeans are crushed to make soymeal, a protein-rich ingredient for feeding animals, and soyoil, used in cooking.
Source: Reuters
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