The Asian country of China is considered to be the world’s largest consumer and importer of soybean. The country is now also looking forward to increase its soybean imports this year due to the increase in demands of the product, and the decline in its domestic output.
Latest reports have suggested that the country is now depending more on the global food market to meet its soybean demands. The China National Grain and Oils Information Centre said that the country’s soybean imports will reach 3.5 million metric tons in the month of October, 5.2 million tons in the month of November and 4.5 million tons in the month of December.
This indicates that soybean imports will increase by 9.3 percent this year to reach a total of 57.5 million tons. It was also estimated that the soybean output of the country will decline by 11.6 percent as compared to last year to just 12.8 million tons, this stems from the fact that soybean growing area in China shrunk by 14.43 percent in the last year.
It was also predicted that soybean consumption this year would increase by 3 percent, as compared to last years 74.4 million tons. This has also marked the tenth consecutive annual increase in the country’s soybean consumption.
Till the 1990’s China was not a soy bean importer but things have changed as demand for the product is on the rise across the country.
