Record Soybean Harvest, but Buyers are Scarce

China's farmers boosted soybean output by 23.7 percent--as directed by authorities--but now they're having trouble finding buyers for the beans. 

Chinese officials launched a frenetic campaign to boost soybean output in 2022 in order to reduce reliance on imported soybeans. Statistics show that area planted in soybeans increased 21.7 percent, exceeding the goal for soybean and oilseed planting set by last year's "Number one document" to increase soybean self-sufficiency. Goaded on by very generous soybean subsidies and hectoring by officials, the output exceeded 20 million metric tons for the first time ever. 

The harvest total is nevertheless still far short of the 91-million-ton import total for the 2022 calendar year just announced by customs officials.

Soybeans harvested on the outskirts of Beijing.

The news is not all good for farmers, though. Today an agricultural official fretted about falling soybean prices at a press conference on agricultural affairs. The official blamed the problem on weak demand and speculated that things might improve as business returns to normal after the lifting of virus lockdowns and as cafeterias and restaurants reopen after the Spring Festival holiday. 

A Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences soybean analyst told State newspaper Xinjing Bao that the surge of buyers that usually appears in the weeks before the Spring Festival holiday has not materialized this year. He also blamed the low protein content of soybeans grown in the northeastern region. He said about 90 percent of soybeans grown in China are used for food products that require beans high in protein. Most of the soybeans are produced in the northeastern provinces where beans tend to have high oil content and less protein. These beans are too expensive to compete with imported soybeans to produce oil and soybean meal, but their protein content is not high enough to make them suitable for food processing. Soybeans grown in Provinces like Hubei, Anhui, Henan and Shandong have high er protein but the quantity is limited.

At the news conference, the agricultural official called on processors to buy more soybeans, gave out a hotline phone number, and promised to match up buyers with sellers in online trade fairs. The soybean analyst proposed even more subsidies--subsidies for farmers to tide them over as prices fall and costs rise, and subsidies for State reserve buyers that would help them keep their prices firm. The analyst said State reserve buyers have been cutting their prices, and private buyers typically use State reserve prices as a guide for setting their own prices. The analyst also recommended research on soybean varieties with high protein.