A cargo of Argentine soybean meal has cleared Chinese customs, two China-based traders said, marking the first such shipment since Beijing approved such imports in 2019 and signalling a new trade channel with the world’s top soymeal exporter.
The ship Sumatra, carrying 30,000 tonnes of Argentine soybean meal, departed Argentina in September and arrived at Nansha port in southern Guangdong province in late October, according to maritime agency NABSA and LSEG ship-tracking data.
"The cargo has cleared customs," said one of the sources familiar with the matter.
Consultancy Mysteel said in a note on Tuesday that the Argentine soymeal has entered the market with good quality and "highly competitive" prices.
China is the world’s biggest consumer of the protein-rich animal feed raw material but produces most of it by crushing soybeans mainly imported from Brazil and the United States.
Argentina is the world’s top exporter of soy oil and meal.
Reuters previously reported that Chinese feedmakers had purchased three Argentine soymeal cargoes to diversify supply amid potential disruptions from the US-China trade war at the time.
US grains trader Bunge, the seller of all three cargoes, had earlier sent a shipment of soybean meal to China in July, but later diverted it to Vietnam for what it called "commercial reasons".
It did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The cargo arrives as China grapples with a soybean glut following months of record imports, with buyers having feared a shortfall if the trade war with Washington had continued.
"Currently, it has little impact on domestic supply, but clearing customs confirms that a new trade route has been opened," said Johnny Xiang, founder of Beijing-based AgRadar Consulting. "Provided quality is not an issue, future purchases remain possible if prices are favourable."
(Reporting by Ella Cao in Beijing and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Joe Bavier)
