China is expected to import more than 100 million tonnes of soybeans in 2020, a record high, said an executive with leading state-owned grains trader COFCO on Tuesday.

This is as the rebuilding of the country’s huge hog herd boosts demand for the protein.

The country is expected to crush 92.6 million tonnes of the beans this year, Zhou Jishuai, Deputy General Manager of the hedging and trading department of COFCO Oils and Oilseeds, a unit of COFCO Group, told a conference in Guangzhou.

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After being decimated by African swine fever, China’s agriculture ministry said the country’s pig herd recovered to more than 90 per cent of normal levels by the end of November.

Although some analysts remain sceptical about the extent of the recovery.

Zhou said soybean demand will remain strong this quarter and into the first quarter of next year.

Demand for soybean oil is also set to rise more than six per cent this year, thanks to increasing use of the oil in biodiesel and animal feed.

[Reuters/NAN]

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