Русский
Russia exported 120,000 tonnes of soybeans to China in March, which was the highest monthly figure since December 2023, the Agroexport federal center has said. Shipments increased 1.6-fold compared to February and 2.2-fold year-on-year.
High foreign demand, driven not only by Chinese buyers, has necessitated a revision of the overall estimate of Russian exports of this oilseed crop in the 2025-2026 agricultural season, bringing it closer to 1 million tonnes (an almost 1.7-fold increase compared to the previous season), Agroexport stated.
The past month exceeded expectations regarding the movement of purchase prices. Agroexport’s analysts commented that “Prices, as initially expected, could repeat the autumn scenario again and move downwards against the backdrop of an abundant supply of remaining stocks, but growing interest from China, stable demand from Belarus, and the first massive shipments to Iran via the Caspian Sea in a long time – estimated at around 25,000 tonnes – left plants in some deficit. Because of this, ruble quotes in the Central Federal District rose around 5% over the month, and farmers became more optimistic about pricing for the new agricultural year on the eve of the start of sowing this crop.”
Soybeans are a critical food crop in China and are consumed as a cooked vegetable, or processed into soy milk or soy curd in a wide variety of dishes.
According to the center’s forecast, the outflow of oilseeds to China may slow down as the Far Eastern quota of 500,000 tonnes for the export of raw materials at a reduced duty of 5% (but not less than US$25 per tonne) expires. Russia’s Primorye Territory and the Amur region have so far used around 55% of the capacity of this quota. Further prospects for sales to Iran will depend on the pace of exports of South American soybeans to the Middle East against the backdrop of the geopolitical situation.
