MethodologyContact usSupportLogin
China’s monthly corn imports in August 2021 jumped by 221.2% versus the same point of last year, as demand from the feed sector supported large purchases, data from the country’s customs has shown.
The country brought in 3.23 million mt of corn in August, the second-highest level on record and up by 12.9% compared to the prior month, data from China’s General Administration of Customs (CGAC) showed on Saturday.
It lifted total corn imports from January to August 2021 to 21.4 million mt, up by 283.7% from the levels at the same period of 2020.
The surge came as demand from the feed industry was boosted as the country rebuilds its pig herd after the deadly African swine fever (ASF) outbreak.
Animal feed production in August was up by 6.5% month-on-month and 14.9% on the year to reach 27.23 million mt, data from China Feed Industry Association (CFIA) has shown.
Soybeans
At the same time, data from CGAC released Monday showed that China’s soybean imports from Brazil in August 2021 jumped by 10.9% from the same month in 2020, while shipments from the US fell sharply by 89.4% year-on-year.
The world’s largest soybean importer brought in 9.04 million mt of the oilseed from Brazil in August, up from the 7.88 million mt recorded in July and the 8.15 million mt a year earlier.
By contrast, August soybean imports from the US fell steeply to 17,575 mt, down by 58% from the prior month and lower than the 166,370 mt recorded in August 2020.
Overall, China imported 9.49 million mt of soybean in August, slightly falling from 9.6 million mt registered a year ago.
For other agricultural commodity imports, China brought 710,000 mt of wheat in August, marginally up by 1.1% from the same month last year, but lower by 19.3% from the prior month.
It pushed the total from wheat imports to China between January to August 2021 to 6.96 million mt, up 39.7% from the same point in 2020.
Barley imports dropped for a fourth consecutive month to 690,000 mt, down by 10.4% from July, but still higher by 54.9% from the level recorded in the same month of 2020.
That took total barley imports volume this year so far to 7.11 million mt, a jump of over 115.4% on the year.
Sorghum imports also fell by 27% from the previous month to 810,000 mt, but were still 27% higher from a year earlier.
The total volume of sorghum brought in from January to August in 2021 reached 6.71 million mt, up by nearly 128.7% from last year’s 2.93 million mt.
Finally, China also imported 880,000 mt of vegetable oil in August, down by 18.6% from the same month last year.
Within that total, imports of soyoil came in at 130,000 mt, palm oil at 470,000 mt and rapeseed oil at 130,000 mt.