China January-February soybean imports down 7.8% on slow Brazil harvest, customs delays

By Ella Cao and Lewis Jackson

BEIJING, March 10 (Reuters) - China's soybean imports fell in the first two months of the year, weighed down by most U.S. shipments yet to arrive, slower Brazilian harvests, and extended customs clearance, analysts said.

Imports are expected to recover in the coming months as more U.S. shipments reach Chinese ports and Brazil's record crop comes on stream.

China combines data for January and February to smooth out the impact of the Lunar New Year holiday, which may fall in either month in a given year.

KEY DETAILS

• China's soybean imports for January and February fell 7.8% to 12.55 million metric tons, customs data showed, but remained above analysts' expectations of 11.1 million tons. CNC-SOY-IMP

• Rosa Wang, an analyst at Shanghai-based agro-consultancy JCI, said January–February arrivals were about 1 million tons higher than they expected.

• March arrivals are estimated at around 6.4 million tons, Wang added, compared with 3.5 million tons in the same month last year.

• "Most initial U.S. shipments arrived only in late February, limiting their impact, while slower Brazilian harvests and logistics delayed arrivals at Chinese ports. Extended customs clearance further constrained imports," said Liu Jinlu, an agricultural researcher at Guoyuan Futures.

• "Amid ample South American supplies, domestic soybean imports are expected to improve in the coming months," Liu added.

• Trade tensions delayed Chinese purchases of the U.S. autumn soybean harvest until late October, after the two countries' leaders met to ease ties.

• Since then, China has imported roughly 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans, signalling goodwill ahead of a highly anticipated summit in the coming weeks.

• Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump said China was considering buying an additional 8 million tons of U.S. soybeans, though traders remained sceptical as higher prices made purchases less economical.

• In Brazil, farmers had harvested 51% of their 2025/26 soybean crop as of last Thursday, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday, up 12 percentage points from the previous week but below the 61% reported a year earlier.