China buys most of 40 Argentina soy cargoes this week for Nov-Dec, traders say

By Ella Cao and Naveen Thukral

BEIJING/SINGAPORE, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Around 40 Argentine soybean cargoes were registered for export in November and December during this week's export tax suspension, mostly headed to China, two traders told Reuters, in purchases that directly eat into the prime U.S. marketing season.

A total of 2.66 million tons of soybeans were registered for November and December, accounting for more than 50% of the 5.1 million tons of total volume booked for all months cited by Argentine officials during the tax-free window, the two Asian traders said on Friday.

The buying frenzy by Chinese importers this week was a fresh blow for U.S. soybean farmers, who have been shut out of exports to top market China during the current harvest season as trade war tariffs make their beans prohibitively expensive for Chinese buyers.

"If you look at purchases for November and December, China has further reduced its need for U.S. soybeans by booking Argentinian cargoes," said an oilseed trader at an international firm which is among the buyers.

Reuters on Wednesday reported that around 20 cargoes were swiftly booked by China after the tax suspension was announced - a short-lived move by Argentina's government to attract up to $7 billion in sales to boost U.S. dollar reserves and stabilise the struggling peso.

The tax break was quickly rolled back after the sales cap was reached.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), as of September 11, China had not bought any U.S. soybean cargoes from its autumn harvest.

The critical U.S. marketing window runs from September through January.