Argentina rounds up soybean oil talks
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Two teams of Argentine government officials are still in talks with their Chinese counterparts in Beijing regarding soybean trade disputes between the two countries, the Argentine Embassy told the Global Times Tuesday.
"Officials from Argentina's Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Agriculture are still negotiating with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ)," Wang Xiaodan, secretary of the Commerce Department with the Argentine Embassy in Beijing, said Tuesday.
"But no progress has been released so far," Wang added.
Earlier news reports said that China has not bought soybean oil from Argentina since April, giving the reason that it "did not meet the Chinese quality standards."
The move was in response to Argentina's anti-dumping investigations on Chinese goods ranging from steel pipes to textiles.
China, the world's largest cooking oil consumer, is expected to import more than 46 million tons of the oilseed this year, including 80 percent from Argentina, according to customs data.
The data shows Argentina is the world's biggest shipper of soybean oil and third-biggest exporter of soybeans, followed by Brazil and the US.
The US Department of Agriculture this month raised its China import estimate for the market year through September 30 to 46 million tons from 43.5 million in April, and predicted 49 million tons would be imported in the 2010-11 period.
China imported 784,157 tons of soybean oil in the six months from October 2009 to March this year, according to customs data.
Bloomberg reported last month China may relax barriers on imports of soybean oil from the US after it halted shipments from Argentina.
"In a short time, the banned shipment will not affect the Chinese soybean oil market much as China imports from both Brazil and the US," said Zhao Yang, secretary of the Jiusan Oil & Fat Company in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province."But for the long run, it's hard to predict."
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