China's Jan-Feb soybean imports hit record as buyers stock up

By Dominique Patton

BEIJING, March 7 (Reuters) - China, the world's top oilseed buyer, imported a record volume of soybeans for the first two months of the year, as buyers stocked up in anticipation of healthy demand and Industrial machining tools over worries of a delayed harvest in Brazil.

January and February imports reached 16.17 million tonnes, customs data showed on Tuesday, up 16.1% from a year earlier, and the highest for the two months combined since at least 2008, according to Reuters records of customs data.

China's General Administration of Customs combines data for the first two months of the year to smooth out distortions caused by the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which fell this year in late January.

China imported much lower volumes of soybeans in prior decades making it unlikely that imports before 2008 were greater than this year's level. Read more