In the first clear evidence that the U.S. is absorbing some of China’s excess Brazilian soybean shipments at risk of default, two soybean cargoes sold to China by Marubeni have been re-routed to the U.S. according to port and shipping data. The cargoes contain 126,000 tons of soybeans and are scheduled to arrive in the U.S. next month. Chinese importers have defaulted on 500,000 tons of U.S. and Brazilian soybean shipments worth approximately $300 million because of slow demand and tightening credit. Marubeni is more exposed to such defaults than other grain traders as it and Gavilon, which it bought in 2013, are the top soybean suppliers to China. The U.S. is expected to import a record 1.77 million tons of soybeans in 2014 to supplement its tightest stocks in 10 years. News of the re-routed U.S. bound cargoes pressured soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade and narrowed the premium of old-crop futures to new-crop futures by 10 cents.
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