Foreign media reports indicate that domestic buyers have purchased 10 shipments of U.S. soybeans this week, totaling 600,000 tons, with shipments scheduled between March and May this year—coinciding with Brazil's peak soybean export season.

Traders and analysts estimate China's recent U.S. soybean purchases have reached 8.5 million to nearly 10 million metric tons—equivalent to 80% of the 12 million metric tons U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated China would procure by late February.

A trader familiar with these transactions indicated China's total U.S. soybean purchases are very close to 10 million metric tons. He estimated China would need to buy another 2 million metric tons to meet its target.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that private exporters sold 336,000 metric tons of soybeans to China for delivery in the 2025/26 marketing year. Since late October last year, USDA-confirmed soybean sales to China have totaled nearly 6.9 million metric tons. Additionally, a significant portion of the approximately 3 million metric tons of soybeans reported by the USDA as sold to unknown destinations has been shipped to China.

China's purchases in recent weeks have helped support Chicago soybean futures prices. On Tuesday, the most actively traded soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade settled at $10.5675 per bushel, compared to nearly $10 per bushel a year ago.

Despite record imports of South American soybeans and weak domestic demand leading to a surplus in China's soybean supply, the country continues to ramp up purchases of U.S. soybeans. Last month, the State Grain Reserves Corporation held three auctions of state-held soybeans to free up storage space for imported U.S. soybeans.

Analysts note that U.S. soybeans remain priced higher than Brazil's new-crop soybeans, but the premium has narrowed due to the Brazilian real strengthening against the U.S. dollar.

As an integrated internet platform providing benchmark prices, on January 14th, the SunSirs benchmark price for soybeans was 4468.00 RMB/ton, an increase of 1.18% compared to the beginning of the month (4416.00 RMB/ton).

Application of SunSirs Benchmark Pricing：

Traders can price spot and contract transactions based on the pricing principle of agreed markup and pricing formula (Transaction price=SunSirs price + Markup).

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact SunSirs with support@SunSirs.com.