105 million tons: China breaks record in soybean imports!

China imported the most soybeans on record in 2024, as buyers worried about rising U.S.-China trade tensions rushed to secure U.S. supplies ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. The world’s largest buyer of the oilseed imported 105.03 million tonnes of soybeans in 2024, up 6.5% from a year earlier, according to customs data released today (13), according to Reuters. The record annual import volumes were driven by falling Chicago Board of Trade soybean prices in 2024, strong crush margins and buyers’ preparations due to concerns about a trade war, said Rosa Wang, an analyst at Shanghai-based agricultural consultancy JCI. December arrivals fell 0.2% to 7.94 million tonnes from a year earlier, Reuters calculations based on customs data showed. The volume fell short of analysts’ estimates, which had forecast about 8.2 million tonnes to be purchased, marking the lowest volume in four years. “This may be due to the speed of the customs clearance process,” Wang said. In ...