BEIJING (Reuters) - China's soybean imports hit an all-time high in August, according to Reuters calculations based on customs data on Monday, with Chinese buyers snapping up large volumes from South America amid ongoing trade tensions between China and the U.S.

The world's largest soybean buyer imported 12.28 million tonnes in August, according to data from the General Administration of Customs, a 1.2% increase from 12.14 million tonnes a year earlier.

"Soybean imports in August were higher than our forecast of 11 million tonnes. This was due to excessive buying by crushers amid a lack of progress in trade negotiations between the U.S. and China," said Rosa Wang, an analyst at JCI, a Shanghai-based agribusiness consultancy.

China's imports in the first eight months of 2025 totaled 73.31 million tons, a 4% increase from a year earlier, according to customs data.

August imports increased 5.2% compared to July, according to the data.

Most of the soybean imports last month are expected to come from Brazil, the world's largest exporter of the oilseed.

Total shipments from the Latin American country in September are estimated to reach 6.75 million tons, up from 5.16 million tons a year ago, according to the Brazilian grain exporters association, Anec.

"In early September, soybean arrivals in China are entering their seasonal decline," said Liu Jinlu, an agricultural researcher at Guoyuan Futures.

"If trade negotiations between the US and China fail to make significant progress, concerns about supply shortages could gradually materialize, supporting prices."

China has not yet booked any US soybean imports for the September-January harvest season, leaving US exporters at risk of losing billions of dollars in sales while trade negotiations drag on.

To compensate for the lack of US supply, Chinese importers are also increasing purchases from Argentina and Uruguay.

Traders previously told Reuters that processors could buy up to 10 million tons of soybeans from the two South American exporters during the 2025/26 marketing year, which ends next August.

Source: Notícias Agrícolas