By: Elisa Donegatti and Ester Venturelli
Teseo.clal.it – China: Volumes of imprted Cereals
Since September 2023, China has accelerated its purchases in the grain markets (+26.3% from January to April 2024). Although this growth involves various products, two stand out in particular: Barley and Sorghum.
Imports of Barley (not for sowing) amount to more than 6 million tons. Of these, 48% is supplied by Australia, which has resumed exporting Barley to China after the latter removed tariffs last August following a three-year interruption. Other main suppliers include Argentina, Canada, Ukraine, and France.
Sorghum is almost entirely purchased from the US (93%). The quantities are increasing despite local productions being high compared to the historical average, highlighting a recovery in Chinese demand. In fact, the first quarter of 2023 saw a slowdown in Sorghum purchases, which are now returning to previous years’ levels.
Overall, Wheat imports have increased significantly since February and in the last three months have recorded values higher than those of last year. In April, the change was +15.8% compared to April 2023. Overall, the shares from Australia have decreased (-31.4%), while those from Canada (+27.9%) and the EU (+68.9%) have increased. The increased demand for Wheat is associated with COFCO, a state food company, which has started processing the raw material rather than purchasing pre-processed flour and pasta.
Regarding the Meat sector, the trend observed in recent months continues: a slowdown in the demand for foreign Pork and an increase in Beef. In the first quarter of 2024, Pork saw a 29.7% drop in imported volumes, particularly reducing the share of fresh, chilled, and frozen meat. During the same period, imported volumes of Beef increased by 22%, driven by higher demand for frozen meat from all major supplying countries.
Teseo.clal.it – China: monthly volumes of imported Wheat
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The CLAL.it team is composed of young people who with the help of Computer Science study the dairy market and develop tools to provide the Operators of the dairy sector with a comprehensive real-time view of the national and international market trends.
