The Iran war has hit Chinese prices of chemicals and fuel hard, but most prices -- including farm prices and fertilizer -- have risen at a modest pace of 5% or less since the war began in late February. Pesticide prices have shot up in sync with the 30-to-40% increases in other chemical prices. The impact of the Iran war is hard to discern from China's official price reports, but they indicate impacts are concentrated on fuel. The March CPI was up 1% year-over-year, but it fell 0.7% between February and March. Consumer prices for energy used for transportation stood out from all other categories with an increase of 10% in March. Producer price deflation was reversed into modest inflation. The March PPI report showed ex-factory prices rose 0.5% in March after falling 0.9% in February. Producer prices for gasoline and natural gas stood out with a 15.8% increase in March, while producer prices for consumer items were down slightly. We can discern a more precise picture of the impac...
China imported a seasonal low of 4 million metric tons of soybeans in March 2026, slightly higher than 3.5 mmt imported in March last year. Detailed data on origins of imports have not yet been released. As an earlier post noted, soybean supplies in China are relatively tight but imports are expected to surge higher in April and May as more Brazilian soybeans arrive. China Customs Administration reports. Imports in 2026 are very close to the volume imported a year ago. The cumulative January-March 2026 import total of 16.57 mmt is 3.1% less than the 17.1 mmt for the same period in 2025. China's imports of cereal grains in March totaled 3.3 mmt, up from 1.85 mmt a year earlier. Cumulative cereal grain imports for January-March of 8.6 mmt are 3 mmt more than the same period in 2025. Grain imports do not have the strong seasonal pattern displayed by soybean imports. Grain imports are not broken out by detailed categories yet. China Customs Administration reports.