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Asia Grain-China buys S.American beans,US seen out

SINGAPORE: China has turned to South America instead of the United States for covering its need for soybeans, sealing deals for buying several cargoes of low-priced Argentine products, traders said on Tuesday. They said China was also looking for rapeseed again, with some saying one or two small cargoes were traded from Australia over the past 10 days.

"They (China) are still buying soybeans," said a trader. "During the last few days, four to five cargoes were traded one from the United States and others from South America."

Traders said China had purchased up to 400,000 tonnes of soybeans from Argentina over the past 10 days for prices of $205 to $214 per tonne, C&F China for late April to May shipments. For shipments after April, US soybeans were not competitive, with prices around $217/$218 currently, they said.

Traders in Singapore estimated China had bought about 1.5 million tonnes of soybeans for March to May shipments in its buying spree since the Lunar New Year holidays early in on February.

Some traders said China struck rapeseed deals for buying one or two cargoes of about 30,000 tonnes each for on March/April shipments at prices around $215/$217 per tonne, C&F China.-Reuters