Large quantities of imported soybeans will arrive in China in the coming months

Analysts say China's soybean imports will rise further in the coming months, mainly because South American soybeans ordered earlier are arriving, which may put pressure on crushing margins.

Data released by the General Administration of Customs show that soybean imports in May this year reached 6.13 million tons, up 15.4% from April and up 2.7% from the same period last year.

Analysts estimate that soybean imports in June could reach as high as 8.5 million tons, which would be close to a record high. The reason for the increase in imports is that South American soybean production hit a record this year, and soybeans contracted for import earlier are arriving one after another.

Because large quantities of imported soybeans arrived in May, and the market expects soybean imports in June to hit a record high, this has already caused domestic soybean meal prices to fall to an 8-year low. Lower hog inventories have also hurt soybean meal demand.

Analysts point out that this year's (soybean meal) demand is worse than last year, and weak soybean meal prices have already led to losses in crushing in Guangdong and Guangxi. In Guangdong, spot soybean meal prices fell to 2,460 yuan per ton, about 396.5 US dollars per ton, and some small traders who had previously signed contracts to buy soybean meal at 2,700 to 3,000 yuan per ton have defaulted.