China's soybean oil exports hit a record high in October.
2025/11/27
In October, China's soybean oil exports reached a record high of 70,877 tons, with most of the shipments headed to India. The oversupply of Chinese soybean oil is largely due to substantial imports from South America and the United States, while the domestic economic slowdown has led to a decline in demand for soybean oil. As a result, processors are facing an oversupply of soybean oil that the domestic market cannot absorb, ultimately prompting them to export large quantities of soybean oil to India—the world's largest consumer of soybean oil.
In the first ten months of 2025, China's soybean oil exports reached 329,000 tons, nearly three times the total for the entire last year. The resumption of soybean imports from the United States following the temporary truce in U.S.-China trade, as well as the improvement in trade relations with India, have further fueled this trend. It is expected that soybean oil trade between China and India will continue to grow.
For India, such imports offer advantages both economically and logistically. As Ashish Acharya, Vice President of Patanjali Foods Ltd., pointed out, Chinese soybean oil is comparable in quality to products from South America, yet it is 10 to 15 U.S. dollars per ton cheaper. Moreover, it takes only 10 to 12 days to deliver the oil to India's eastern coast—far faster than the 50 to 60 days required for imports from Brazil or Argentina. In November, about 70,000 tons of Chinese soybean oil had already been delivered to India, and an additional 12,000 tons are expected to be imported in the near future.
China produces about 20 million tons of soybean oil annually, almost all of which was previously consumed domestically. However, as the number of restaurants declines and economic growth slows down, consumption has fallen. Data shows that commercial inventories as of mid-November have exceeded 1 million tons, reaching a seven-year high.
