More than 80 percent of soybean oil crushers in Heilongjiang Province – China's largest soybean production base – have closed down due to decline in planting area and output of soybeans in the region, Security Daily reported Monday.

Many of the soybean oil producers have relocated to coastal areas and begun using imported soybeans as their raw materials.

China's soybean acreage for this year's autumn harvest is 6.67 million hectares – a 930,000 hectares drop from last year's 7.6 million hectares, according to a report by the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner.

Meanwhile, the volume of imported soybeans climbed 90 percent in the past six years. In 2010, soybean imports hit a historic high of 54.8 million tons, General Administration of Customs data showed.

Imported soybeans now account for 80 percent of China's total soybean consumption, filling the gap between declining domestic output and increasing demand for soybean oil, China Daily reported in September.

China is the world's largest soybean importer, and soybean is a major source of cooking oil in the country.

China's business press carried the story above on Monday.

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