China 2023 soybean imports from Brazil rise 29pc, US share shrinks

BEIJING, Jan 21 (Reuters): China's soybean imports from Brazil in 2023 jumped 29 per cent from the prior year, customs data showed on Saturday, expanding the South American grower's dominance in the world's largest soybean market and eating into the US market share.

Total shipments from Brazil to China were 69.95 million metric tons last year, data from China's General Administration of Customs showed.

Imports from the US fell 13 per cent to 24.17 million tons.

China's total soybean imports jumped to 99.41 million tons, after Chinese buyers took advantage of cheaper supplies from Brazil's bumper crop to feed its large pig herds.

Brazil's market share grew to 70 per cent, while the US share shrank to 24 per cent, according to Reuters calculations based on the data.

In December, soybean arrivals from Brazil were 94 per cent higher than a year earlier at 4.98 million tons while arrivals from the United States were 31 per cent lower at 3.85 million tons.

China's soybean imports in the first quarter are forecast to slow by about 20 per cent from a year earlier to 18.5 millions tons, according to a Reuters survey, after a record slaughter shrank pig herds.