China does not need US soybeans for state reserves: official China

Shannon Stapleton | Reuters

A farmer fills soybean seed planters in Gideon, Missouri.

China, the world's largest buyer of soybeans, can fully meet the needs of its state soybean reserves without importing from the United States. Comments from Lu Xiaodong, Sinograin's deputy managing director, on CCTV come after Beijing imposed a 25 percent duty on US soybean imports last Friday, in retaliation for the US President's measures against Chinese goods. Donald Trump

High taxes on China's # 2 supplier beans threaten to raise costs for ranchers and potentially raise the price of pork, the country's favorite meat

and the countries participating in China's belt and road initiative to meet its needs for state stocks, said Lu.

There are currently large public stocks of soybeans, he said. The size of Beijing's soybean stocks is unknown

The report follows comments made by the public grain merchant COFCO earlier this week, which also sought to allay concerns over oilseed supplies in China

its forecasts for soybean imports for the 2018/19 campaign, Thursday, warning that higher prices due to the trade dispute with the United States would dampen demand as farmers use other ingredients for their animal feed .