Chinese grain imports in 2024 are approaching historic highs, despite cancellations
Published Mar 22, 2024
Tridge summary
China's imports of grains and oilseeds are projected to stay near record highs this year, despite recent cancellations, due to low global prices and a domestic production shortage. Wheat imports from Australia have nearly quadrupled in the first two months of this year compared to the same period in 2021. China, the world's largest agricultural products buyer, has been stockpiling more food due to supply chain disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine conflict. Additionally, China's corn imports have risen by 16% in the first two months of this year, with predictions that full-year imports will remain stable. Australian barley has also been purchased by China.
Disclaimer: The above summary was generated by a state-of-the-art LLM model and is intended for informational purposes only. It is recommended that readers refer to the original article for more context.
Original content
SINGAPORE/BEIJING, March 21 (Reuters) - Imports of grains and oilseeds from China, the world's largest buyer of agricultural products, will remain near record highs this year despite the recent wave of cancellations, as low prices global markets and the shortage of national production drive purchases. According to the latest customs data, Chinese imports of wheat from Australia in January and February of this year have almost quadrupled compared to the same period last year. This trend should continue even after Beijing canceled or postponed 1 million metric tons of Australian wheat last week. The cancellations, along with those of about 500,000 tons of US wheat, had raised concerns about weakening Chinese demand, which due to its dominant role in global agricultural markets could have led to lower prices. But traders and analysts say the cancellations will not affect global demand, as lower wheat prices will spur buying, along with more government funding aimed at boosting grain ...
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