Chinese buyers snap up front-month soybean cargoes as June starts

Chinese buyers were heard snapping up nine soybean cargoes out of Brazil for loading periods between June and August so far this week. 

At least seven trades were heard overnight for July shipments and one each for June and August shipments, totalling nine trades as of Tuesday.

Five of the July trades were done on a CFR basis with prices between 188-195 c/bu over July futures, while the other two July shipments were traded on a FOB basis at 109 c/bu and 117 c/bu over July futures, respectively.

One June shipment was also traded on an FOB basis at 92 c/bu over July futures and an August shipment was heard at 205 c/bu over July futures.

This volume was more than half of the total trade volume for all of last week.

Based on trade data collected by Agricensus, at least 17 cargoes were bought last week. Of these, 13 were booked for July shipments, accounting for 76% of the total bookings.

However, the volume last week was down from the week before, when at least 28 cargoes were heard changing hands.

It is about the right timing for Chinese buyers to book front-month cargoes, a China-based trader at an international trading house said in reference to the spike in trade volume overnight.

China’s soybean purchasing for June is now 78% complete and coverage for July is about 51% finished, according to data from Chinese soybean broker Overseas China Investment.

China’s National Grain and Oil Information Centre (CNGOIC) expects soybean vessel arrivals in May to reach 7.2 million mt this year.