China buys no U.S. soybeans in September amid trade tensions, first zero imports since 2018

[Flags of China and United States of America covered in soybeans. Concept of Chinese and American agricultural imports, exports, trade agreement, trade war, tariffs, production and commodity markets]

China's soybean supply chain underwent a dramatic realignment in September 2025, with customs data showing U.S. imports collapsed to zero last month from 1.7 million metric tons a year earlier. This marks the first time since November 2018 that no U.S. soybeans were shipped to China during the month.

This realignment, fueled by deepening trade tensions, saw buyers heavily favor South American suppliers.

China’s total soybean imports reached 12.87 million tons in September, the second-highest on record, and powered by huge deliveries from the region.

Brazil supplied 10.96 million tons (up 29.9% year-on-year), securing an 85.2% market share, while Argentina’s shipments surged 91.5% to 1.17 million tons.

Year-to-date figures underscore this pivot: Brazil has shipped 63.7 million tons and Argentina 2.9 million tons, with Beijing currently shunning the new U.S. harvest.

China is, by far, the top buyer of U.S. soybeans. In 2024, the United States shipped almost 985 million bushels to China, which represented 51 percent of all U.S. soybean exports that year.

On Monday, the Shanghai Composite [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SHCOMP?source=section%3Asearch_bar%7Ccontent_type%3Aall%7Csection_asset%3Asearch-basic%7Csearch_item%3Ashcomp%7Crow_num%3A1%7CURL_first_level%3Anews%7Ctopic%3Asymbol] rose 0.6% to around 3,863 while the Shenzhen Component rallied 1.5% to 12,880 on Monday, recouping some losses from the previous session amid signs of easing Sino-US trade tensions, and the offshore yuan [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/USD:CNY#source=url_first_level%3Amarket-news%7Csection%3Aglobal%7Csection_asset%3Afull_story%7Cbutton%3Abody_link] traded flat around 7.12 per dollar on Monday, holding near three-week highs as investors assessed a raft of fresh Chinese economic data.

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Currency: (CNY:USD [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CNY:USD])

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