China-Russia soybean trade takes centre stage at annual industry gathering near border

China’s premier soybean summit takes place amid heightened international tensions that have forced nations to take urgent steps to diversify their supply chains

Attendees at 6th China Soybean Industry International Summit Forum told that the best is yet to come in China-Russia trade opportunities

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China imports more Brazilian soybeans - seen here being unloaded in Jiangsu province - than it gets from Russia. Photo: AP

Published: 10:15pm, 18 Aug 2022Updated: 12:13am, 19 Aug 2022

The strengthening soybean trade between China and Russia saw the issue move high up the agenda at an annual gathering of the Chinese soybean industry, taking place against the backdrop of rising tensions with the West.

Risks are quietly building up in China’s soybean sector, and the United States still has a monopoly on international pricing power while Beijing is striving to reduce China’s dependence on foreign soybeans by raising domestic output, warned China Soybean Association president Yang Baolong.

“If we want to boost the development of the soybean industry … we should proactively go abroad,” he said on Wednesday, speaking at the 6th China Soybean Industry International Summit Forum in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, which borders Russia.

And doing more planting, processing and warehousing in Russia is “a good industry development direction” for Chinese companies, he said at the forum.

Vladimir Oshchepkov, consul general of the Russian Federation in Harbin, echoed that sentiment while addressing the same event, noting that the two countries have been paying more attention to the joint growing and processing of soybeans in recent years, and that this is likely to enhance their bilateral trade on the whole.

More regions in Russia might engage in the soybean trade with China, thanks to efficient cooperation between the two sides, he said at the conference attended by hundreds of Chinese soybean growers, traders, researchers and officials.

He expected that two new cross-broader bridges between the countries could help increase the trade volume, including that of agricultural products. And he floated the idea of the nations working together on soybean-breeding research.