China sets August soybean import record amid trade strain
Buyers favour Brazil as U.S. sales stall during tense talks
9 September 2025
2 minute read
By: China's soybean imports rose to their highest-ever level for the month of August, a Reuters calculation of customs data showed on Monday, as buyers snapped up large volumes from South America amid ongoing Sino-US trade tensions.
The world's top soybean buyer brought in 12.28 million metric tons in August, data from the General Administration of Customs showed, up 1.2% from 12.14 million tons a year earlier.
"August soybean imports were higher than our forecast of 11 million tons. This was due to crushers overbuying amid a lack of progress in US-China trade talks," said Rosa Wang, an analyst at Shanghai-based agro-consultancy JCI.
China's imports in the first eight months of 2025 totalled 73.31 million tons, up 4% year-on-year, the Customs data showed.
August imports were up 5.2% from July, the data showed.
Most of the soybeans imported last month are expected to be from top soy exporter Brazil.
The Latin American country's overall September shipments are estimated to reach 6.75 million metric tons, up from 5.16 million tons a year ago, according to the Brazilian grain exporters' association ANEC.
"As September begins, soybean arrivals in China are entering their seasonal decline," said Liu Jinlu, an agricultural researcher at Guoyuan Futures.
"If trade talks between the US and China fail to make meaningful progress, concerns over supply shortages may gradually materialise, providing support for prices."
China has yet to book any US soybean imports for the US harvest period from September to January, leaving US exporters at risk of missing out on billions of dollars in sales as trade talks drag on.
To offset the absence of US supply, Chinese importers are also increasing purchases from Argentina and Uruguay.
Traders previously told Reuters that processors may buy up to 10 million metric tons of soybeans from the two South American exporters during the 2025/26 marketing year ending next August.
