MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

China announces more purchases of soybean during the first half of the year

Soy bean prices rebounded following Beijing’s announcement

Chinese State of Administration of Grains revealed that the world's top buyer of soybeans is on course to import 25% more in the first half of this year than the first six months of 2011, which will benefit major producers Argentina, Brazil and US.

In a communiqué released by China‘s National Grain and Oils Information Centre, the Asian giant aims to import 29 million tons of soybeans during this first semester, while it is expected to buy 26 million tons by the end of the year.

Benchmark global soybean prices gained support from signs of Chinese demand to recover slightly from a heavy sell-off, while corn fell on market expectations that planting was ahead of schedule in top producer the United States.

Soy and corn had posted their biggest daily declines since January on Tuesday on the Chicago Board of Trade as bearish chart signals and good US crop weather prompted funds to sell long positions.

Drought has undermined harvests of soybeans and corn in major producers Brazil and Argentina, which has fuelled a rally in Chicago for much of 2012.

Agricultural commodities did not benefit from a weaker dollar, which makes US exports cheaper on world markets and has helped US wheat win business from Egypt, the world's biggest buyer of the feed grain.

Although key commodities such as crude oil traded strongly, world financial markets paused while awaiting US data, which could give further evidence of recovery in the world's top economy.