Apart From The Ration Of Indonesian Soybeans In The US Market, China Is Also Buying In Latin America

Soybean crop illustration (Photo: Ministry of Agriculture)

JAKARTA - The Chinese government's maneuver to buy up most of the soybeans in the international market has caused the price of this commodity to soar. According to VOI's monitoring, the price of the tofu and tempe raw materials has jumped in the last two months.

In November 2020, the price of soybeans was known to be at the level of 11.92 US dollars per bushels. A month later, the price crept up to 12.5 US dollars per bushels. The world food organization FAO also agrees with this. In FAO records, the price of soybeans is believed to have jumped 6 percent to 461 US dollars per ton from the previous 435 US dollars per ton.

Professor of Agriculture, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) Dwi Andreas Santoso revealed that there has been a shift in soybean imports made by China from traditional markets so far.

"China buys up most of the soybean stock sold by Brazil, because so far it has imported soybeans from there," he said to VOI, Tuesday, January 5.

Not only that, Dwi then explained that China also imported soybeans from other Latin American countries, namely Argentina.

"Now, in Argentina itself, a worker strike is currently happening, which results in delays in the distribution of soybeans abroad. In addition, they are also securing domestic supplies during a pandemic like this, "he said.

It did not stop there, the IPB academic also revealed that most countries in South America are experiencing dry seasons. This then adds to the pressure on the formation of higher international soybean prices.

As a result, China then directed its soybean import policy to the US, which is also known as one of the largest commodity-producing countries in the world.

"Yes, it is inevitable that the price increase is inevitable because the only three biggest producers are, namely the United States, Argentina and Brazil," Dwi said.

As previously reported, it is believed that world soybean price fluctuations are due to China buying up its import quota of 60 percent from the United States. Therefore, the soybean import quota from the US which is intended for Indonesia is running low.

"China is doing this because they also have an interest in ensuring the running of the domestic industry. This is because soybeans are one of the strategic commodities with quite a lot of derivatives, "he said.

As for the retail level in Indonesia, the increase in the price of imported soybeans increased by about 20 percent from the usual IDR 7,000 to IDR 9,500.