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Typhoon Devastating Aquaculture May Slow China’s Soybean Demand
By Bloomberg News Jul 23, 2014

China’s soybean consumption will slow after a typhoon earlier this month destroyed fish ponds and farms, reducing animal feed use, according to a Beijing-based agricultural commodities researcher.

Typhoon Rammasun brought strong winds and rain to Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan provinces, devastating coastal shrimp and fish ponds and some livestock farms, Lin Guofa, an analyst at Bric Global Agricultural Consultants Ltd., said in an interview. The losses would reduce aquaculture feed consumption by more than 1 million metric tons, which would need about 300,000 tons of soybeans to produce, he said. There was also damage to pig and chicken farms, according to Lin.

“July and August are when feed demand by aquaculture is at its peak, so the typhoon is bearish for an already fragile feed market,” said Lin, a Beijing-based agricultural commodities researcher. “I’m quite bearish on China’s feed demand in the fourth quarter also,” he said.

While a rebound is possible in 2015, weak Chinese demand in the near future won’t help soybeans traded in Chicago, which have sagged on speculation of rising global production, Lin said. A Bloomberg News survey on July 21 projected rising Chinese soybean imports in the second half of this year.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-24/typhoon-devastating-aquaculture-may-slow-china-s-soybean-demand.html