CHINA, the world’s top buyer of soybeans, is likely to import record volumes of the oilseed again this year as crushers take advantage of cheap overseas supplies to meet nearly all the demand for protein-rich meals, industry analysts said.

    Feed mills, the major consumers of soymeal, are using the soy product to replace other protein sources such as rapeseed, cottonseed and distillers dried grains (DDGS), even as hog stocks — which account for more than 40 percent of China’s use of livestock feeds — have fallen to their lowest in years.

    Soymeal output increased by 10.3 percent in 2015, according to data published by industry portal www.cofeed.com, driving up demand for imported soybeans, which rose 14.4 percent to a record last year.

    “Soymeal is very cheap and feed mills have increased use despite the overall economic slowdown,” said a soymeal trader with a major crusher.

    The rise in soymeal demand has come even as the world’s top producer and consumer of pork reduced hog stocks last year to the lowest since 2004, according to Agriculture Ministry data, with breeders curbing production after several years of losses and amid new environmental requirements.

    And while the rebuilding of hog stocks remains slow, a reduction in output of other protein sources is translating into demand growth for soymeal.

    The government has recently cracked down on imports of DDGS, and domestic output of both rapeseed and cotton are set to fall sharply this year.

    Farmers cut rapeseed acreage by as much as 30 percent for the harvest due in May 2016, said Lu Yun, an analyst with Shanghai JC Intelligence, after domestic prices plunged following a removal of the government’s stockpile policy last year.(SD-Agencies)