A shipment of Argentine soybean meal cleared Chinese customs, two China-based traders said, marking the first such shipment since Beijing approved such imports in 2019 and signaling a new trade channel with the world’s leading soybean meal exporter.
The Sumatra ship, carrying 30,000 metric tons of Argentine soybean meal, departed from Argentina in September and arrived at the port of Nansha, in the southern province of Guangzhou at the end of October, according to the maritime agency NABSA and ship tracking data from LSEG.
“The shipment has passed customs control,” said one of the sources familiar with the matter.
Consulting firm Mysteel said in a note on Tuesday that Argentine soy flour has entered the market with good quality and prices. “highly competitive.”
China is the world’s largest consumer of this protein-rich raw material for animal feed, but it produces most of it by crushing soybeans imported mainly from Brazil and the United States.
Argentina is the world’s largest exporter of soybean oil and meal.
Reuters previously reported that Chinese feed manufacturers had bought three shipments of soybean meal Argentina to diversify supply amid potential disruptions from the trade war between the United States and China at the time.
The American grain trader Bunge, seller of the three shipments, had previously sent a shipment of soybean meal to China in July, but then diverted it to Vietnam for what he called “commercial reasons.”
The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The shipment comes as China faces a glut of soybeans after months of record imports, as buyers feared a deficit if the trade war with Washington had continued.
“Currently, it has little impact on domestic supply, but customs clearance confirms that a new trade route has been opened,” said Johnny Xiang, founder of Beijing-based AgRadar Consulting. “As long as quality is not an issue, future purchases remain possible if prices are favorable.”
