China imported no soybeans from the US for a second straight month in October even as total imports surged to a record high on purchases from South America, with buyers aiming to avert supply disruptions amid trade tensions with Washington, reports Reuters. Data from China’s General Administration of Customs on Thursday showed US soybean imports in October fell to zero from 541,434 metric tons a year earlier.
The decline followed China’s imposition of high tariffs on US soybeans earlier in the year and the depletion of previously harvested US supplies, or old-crop beans. China is the world’s biggest soybean importer.
In contrast, arrivals from Brazil last month jumped 28.8% year-on-year to 7.12 million tons, representing 75.1% of China’s total imports of the oilseed, customs data showed, while shipments from Argentina rose 15.4% to 1.57 million tons, making up one-sixth of the total.