By William Bi
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world’s largest buyer of soybeans, may double its imports this month from a year earlier, after higher prices of domestic beans prompted buyers to increase purchases overseas in the past few weeks.
Purchases may total 2.9 million metric tons, the Ministry of Commerce said in a twice-monthly forecast report dated Dec. 12. That compares with 1.4 million tons in December 2007, and 3.3 million tons last month, according to customs data.
China has asked state reserves to buy as many as 3 million tons of soybeans from farmers to boost prices and rural incomes. That’s made processing domestic soybeans unprofitable and forced buyers to boost buying of cheaper U.S. and South American beans, supporting prices of the commodity traded in Chicago.
“China’s purchases continue to support U.S. bean prices,” Cao Yanhui, research manager at Liaoning Cifco Futures Co., wrote in an emailed report today. “The market expects big shipments of beans in December.”
March-delivery soybeans on the Chicago Board of Trade gained as much as 1.5 percent to $8.695 a bushel at 4:12 p.m. in Beijing.
On the Dalian Commodity Exchange, soybeans for delivery in May gained 2.2 percent to 3,086 yuan a ton.
Chinese buyers probably ordered as many as 23 cargos, or about 1.4 million tons, of soybeans in the 10-day period ended Dec. 12 for delivery in January and February, Shanghai JC Intelligence Co. said in an email.
To contact the reporter on this story: William Bi in Beijing at wbi@bloomberg.net
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