China's soybean imports from Brazil fell 22 percent in April

20-May-2025 04:25 PM

Shanghai. Compared to April 2024, China's soybean imports from Brazil during April 2025 fell by 23.2 percent to 4.6 million tonnes. Soybean harvesting and preparation in Brazil were delayed this year, and there were some transportation problems. Additionally, shipments were hampered due to long customs clearance times, and ships could not depart the ports on time.

Like Brazil, soybean imports from the United States to China during April also fell by 43.7 percent to 138,000 tonnes. It is worth noting that after Brazil, the United States is the second-largest supplier of soybean to China. Due to uncertainty related to customs issues, many Chinese importers had earlier preferred Brazil.

During April 2025, China’s total soybean imports fell to 6.08 million tonnes, marking the lowest import level for this month since 2015.

According to the latest data from China’s General Administration of Customs, during the first four months of the current calendar year (January–April 2025), China’s total soybean imports from Brazil fell by 42.5 percent to 9.14 million tonnes, while imports from the US jumped by 35.2 percent to 12.95 million tonnes.

Apart from these two main suppliers, China also imports soybean in smaller quantities from countries like Argentina and Uruguay-Paraguay.

A temporary agreement on customs duty has been reached with the US, which is expected to boost soybean imports from the US in May.

Meanwhile, ships delayed from Brazil in April are also expected to arrive in Chinese ports in May. China remains the world’s largest importer of soybean.