MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil soybean sales to China in August down 40% year on year

China accounted for 77% of soybean shipments from Brazil for August, Secex said.

Brazil shipped 4.1 million tons of soybeans to China in August, down 40% year on year, according to the Secretariat of Foreign Trade of Brazil, or Secex. Though Secex didn’t provide any reason for the sharp drop, but trade sources cited rising competition from Argentina and African swine fever among the reasons for the decline.

China accounted for 77% of soybean shipments from Brazil for the last month, the Secex said.

Over January-August, Brazil has shipped 43.32 million tons of soybeans to China, down 14% year on year, the report said on Tuesday.

China is the biggest soybean importer, accounting for over 60% of global purchases, with an average buy of 88 million-90 million mt annually.

As the US-China trade tension continues unabated and US soybean facing harvest and price volatility, Brazil has an advantage in the Chinese soy market, sources said. However, rising soybean prices, higher domestic crushing demand and depleting inventories may limit the Brazilian soy exports in the last quarter of 2019.

Brazil, world’s top soy supplier, exported 5.32 million tons of soybeans in total in August, down 34.4% year on year and declining 32% on the month, according to the Secex. During the first eight month period of this year, Brazil exported 58.5 million tons of soybeans, down 9.5% on the year, the data showed.

Apart from China, other major export destinations for Brazilian soybeans are the Netherlands, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Japan, Vietnam, Iran and Mexico.

The ports of Rio Grande, Paranagua and Santos were the top suppliers to the Asian markets in the January-August period, Secex said. While Santos shipped 15.58 million tons of soybeans, the ports of Paranagua and Rio Grande transported 7.75 million tons and 7.36 million tons of soybeans to Asia, respectively, the data showed.

In the same period, Brazil shipped 6.8 million tons of soybeans to Europe, its second-largest market, the Secex said. Top Brazilian ports shipping soybeans to Europe in the eight-month period were Manaus with 2.1 million ton shipments, ALF-Belem with 1.84 million, and Santarem with 1.26 million, the report said.