BRASÍLIA: China is expected to increase this year’s soybean purchases from Brazil, which in 2015 saw its market share in that country rise from 45 percent to 49 percent, at the expense of the United States, according to the Brazilian press.
In 2015, according to official Chinese figures, the United States saw its soybean market share in China fall by 7 percentage points, from 42 percent to 35 percent of total imports of 81.7 million tons, or an annual increase of 10.4 million tons compared to 2014.
Daniel Siqueira, an analyst at AgRural, told Brazilian daily newspaper Folha de São Paulo that China would continue to increase soybean imports both from Brazil and Argentina, a country that increased its market share from 8 percent in 2014 to 11 percent in 2015. China opting for more imports from Brazil was, he said, related to the devaluation of the real against the dollar, which has made Brazilian products more competitive.
Brazil’s currency, the USA’s main competitor in soybeans, depreciated by 41 percent between 2014 and 2015, increasing from 2.35 reais per dollar to 3.33 reais per dollar, while the US dollar rose 17 percent in value over the same period.
In the 2014/2015 crop year Brazil and the US exported about 50 million tons each, with a slight advantage for Brazil, but in the year which ends on 31 August this year Brazil is expected to export 57 million tons, against just 46 million tons of exports by the US.
