Soybean Imports From U.S.: Weak Bounce

Customs data show that China's imports of U.S. soybeans during February 2019 bounced back to 907,754 metric tons. That's up from 135,772 metric tons in January and the largest volume since trade tensions began last April, but still far behind the 3,344,521 metric tons imported in February 2018.

Brazil was again the leading source of China's soybean imports in February 2019. China imported 1,986,344 metric tons from Brazil, less than half the 4.9 mmt imported from Brazil in January and the smallest volume from that country since February last year. February is normally the seasonal low for China's imports of Brazilian soybeans.

The remainder of China's 4.456 mmt of imports during February was filled out by Argentina (841,394 mt), Canada (644,005 mt), Russia (45,499 mt), Uruguay (30,019 mt), and Kazakhstan (990 mt).

China's cumulative soybean imports for the market year since October are down 8.1 million metric tons from a year earlier. October 2018-February 2019 imports from the United States are down 20.1 mmt and imports from Brazil are up 11 mmt from a year earlier. Since October, 22.9 mmt of China's 29.9 mmt soybean imports have come from Brazil--a 76 percent market share. Imports from Canada are up 1.6 mmt from a year ago and imports from other countries are down from last year.

China's soybean imports, October-February
	Oct-Feb	Oct-Feb
Country	2017/18	2018/19	Change
	Metric tons
United States	21,332,440	1,179,779,	-20,152,660
Brazil	11,896,751	22,906,065	11,009,314
Canada	1,211,047	2,811,737	1,600,690
Kazakhstan	5,898	2,060	-3,838
Ethiopia	12,649	220	-12,429
Russia	437,890	387,282	-50,607
Ukraine	2,132	0	-2,132
Argentina	2,165,705	2,082,600	-83,105
Uruguay	921,695	486,699	-434,995
	Million metric tons
Total	38.0	29.9	-8.1
Source: China Customs web site.