China’s grain and oilseeds imports will remain at record highs in 2024 despite a recent series of cancellations of previously contracted volumes, as lower global prices and domestic production shortfalls encourage purchases, Reuters reports.
Market participants expect China’s trade activity to pick up from April and the country’s total imports in 2024 to be similar to last year. According to StoneX, China will continue to buy high-quality milling wheat from the USA, Canada and Australia to mix it with its own grain, the quality of which in 2024 is expected to be very low due to adverse weather conditions.
In the first two months of 2024, China imported 6.19 mln tonnes of corn, up 16% y-o-y, and barley imports increased almost 3 times to 2.71 mln tonnes.
In 2023, China spent 234 bln USD on imports of agricultural products.
Prospects for trade with China will be discussed at the international conference Chinese Grains&Oils Congress, which will be held on April 11-12 in Shanghai.