China's Animal Feed Production Slowing, Bernstein Says

        0808 GMT [Dow Jones] Ahead of monthly trade data to be released by China on Sunday, Bernstein analysts put out an interesting note looking at China's soybean demand over the past five years. Bernstein says animal feed -- which includes soymeal made from soybeans -- has been behind most of China's increased oilseed consumption since 2008, growing at 8% per year since then. China's growth in caloric consumption, meanwhile, actually peaked before 2000, and food demand has only been growing at around 1% per year since 2008, from 216kg per capita to 235 kg. The house thinks feed demand relative to animal product production in China is already close to currently global levels, with little room left in China to increase feed production targets dramatically by 2016, when the country's next Five-Year Plan will be announced. Chinese customs data showed strong soybean import volumes in April, which rose 40.7% on-year to 6.5 million metric tons. (Isabella.steger@wsj.com)
        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        June 06, 2014 04:08 ET (08:08 GMT)