By Laurie Chen, Mei Mei Chu, Ella Kao and Naveen Thukral
BEIJING (Reuters) – China, the world’s biggest soybean buyer, has stopped receiving Brazilian soybean shipments from five entities because the cargoes did not meet phytosanitary requirements, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. .
The suspension comes as Brazil increases its share of the world’s largest soybean market at the expense of Brazil. 2nd exporter is United States.
China, which buys more than 60% of the soybeans shipped worldwide, now imports more than 70% of the oilseed from Brazil, eating into US market share.
With concerns of Washington-Beijing trade tensions rising again, China secured almost all of its soybeans from Brazil for first-quarter shipments before Donald Trump became president.
Brazil has suspended shipments to China from Terra Roxa Comercio de Ceres, Olam Brasil and C. Vale Cooperativa Agroindustrial since Jan. 8, one of the sources said.
On Jan. 14, Chinese customs suspended shipments from Cargill Agricola SA and ADM do Brasil, the source said.
Sources said there were concerns after chemical contamination, pests or insects were found in some cargo.
The parent firms of the affected entities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The General Administration of Customs of China did not respond to a request for comment.
“When we try to process the clearance on the customs website for soybeans shipped by these five companies, we are unable to proceed,” said another source, a trader at a China-based soybean crusher.
It was unclear how long the suspension would last, although traders expected it to be short-lived.
“It largely depends on how quickly Brazilian companies are able to provide evidence that they discovered what was wrong that led to these discrepancies and provide plans to fix it,” the first source said.
The suspended companies are units of some of China’s largest soybean suppliers.
“We are taking this seriously,” an official at one of the affected companies told Reuters. He declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.
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