Soybean Photo: VCG

China's soybean output reached 20.65 million tons in 2024, with the self-sufficiency rate increasing by 4 percentage points compared with 2020, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Han Jun said at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

"We have taken proactive measures to improve our agricultural structure in response to the evolving market demand, and will continuously enhance agri-produce quality to meet the diverse and high-quality demand of Chinese residents," Han said, noting that the ministry has been continuously ramping up domestic produce of soybeans and oilseeds.

Since 2015, China's annual soybean import volume has exceeded 80 million tons - as the domestic soybean supply cannot meet market demand, which was partly attributed to insufficient breeding of soybean varieties featuring high oil content, according to a Xinhua News Agency report.

With China being an important soybean importer worldwide, the American Soybean Association (ASA) in August urged the US government to secure a deal with China that reopens this vital market for US soybeans, stressing that US soybean farmers cannot survive a prolonged trade dispute with their largest customer.

"US soybean farmers are standing at a trade and financial precipice," ASA President Caleb Ragland, a soybean farmer from Kentucky, said in a letter to the Trump administration, according to the association's website.

It's worth noting that with access to fast-developing breeding technology, Chinese bio-tech firms are now keen on cultivating new strains of high-quality soybeans to cope with the country's strong market demand, Xinhua reported.

A collection of newly-developed high-oil and high-yield soybean varieties were showcased at the meeting held in northeast China's Jilin Province on September 12. All of the new strains displayed at the meeting in Jilin boast oil content above 22 percent, and yields more than 8 percent higher than strains currently planted, it said.