Chinese Importers Scoop Up Brazilian Soybeans Amid US Trade Uncertainty

Hong Kong Sees Record Voter Turnout Amid Calls for Democracy

Millions of Hongkongers stood in queues stretching for blocks to cast their vote in the city’s district council elections on Nov. 24, which is widely seen as a test of support for the government amid a months-long pro-democracy movement that has racked the city. A record number of approximately 2.94 million took to the polls, a turn out rate of 71.20 percent. The turnout was two times as large as the last district election in 2015. “To say no to tyranny, the ballot on our hand is very important,” Anson Chan, former chief secretary of the Hong Kong administration, told The Epoch Times before casting her vote. She said that the election was an opportunity to show the government the real public sentiment. Pro-democracy district council candidate Jimmy Sham (R)…

BEIJING—Chinese buyers scooped up at least 20 cargos of Brazilian soybeans last week due to uncertainty over a trade deal with the United States that sent them rushing to lock in supplies, traders said on Nov. 25.

Importers also jumped on the new crop Brazilian beans because of attractive margins, said two traders who declined to be identified.

The purchases were for delivery when the new harvest hits the market early next year, they said. Some U.S. and Argentinian cargos were also booked last week, one of the traders said, with total purchases of about 30 cargos.

Chinese buyers have bought significantly fewer soybeans from their second largest supplier, the United States, this year, due to high tariffs on imports, which are expected to be lifted if the two sides agree to the first phase of a trade deal.

Completion of the first phase risks sliding into next year, Reuters reported last week, leaving buyers uncertain about market conditions.

Even after leaders from the two countries sent positive signals on an initial deal to defuse the protracted trade war, markets are concerned that the trade talks could flounder.

“Buying out of Brazil is probably a good hedge at this point. There’s plenty of uncertainty around U.S. supplies so it’s probably a good idea to have at least some Brazil locked in,” said Darin Friedrichs, Senior Asia Commodity Analyst at broker INTL FCStone.

After a 16-month-long trade war, China’s soybean buyers who crush the beans into meal to feed the world’s largest pig herd are sitting on tight stocks.

National soymeal stocks plunged to a six-year low of just 355,100 tonnes in the week ending Nov. 19.

Crushers are however also seeing poor demand amid the worst ever outbreak of disease in China’s pig herd, which has shrunk by more than 40 percent since a year ago.

“Feed producers and downstream companies are reluctant to build up high inventories as demand is bad,” said a purchase manager with a feed producer in northeastern China.

By Hallie Gu and Dominique Patton

This article is from the Internet:Chinese Importers Scoop Up Brazilian Soybeans Amid US Trade Uncertainty

Plane Crashes Into Homes in Congo; at Least 25 Dead

GOMA, Congo—A small passenger plane carrying at least 17 passengers crashed shortly after takeoff on Nov. 24 in Congo’s eastern city of Goma, killing at least 25 people, including people on the ground. There are two survivors, including one member of the crew, according to the National Border Health Program, which confirmed 25 dead in a statement later Sunday. The survivors are being cared for at a local hospital, it said. The 19-seater aircraft crashed into residential homes in the Mapendo district near Goma’s airport in the North Kivu province shortly after “missing” its takeoff, according to provincial governor Nzanzu Kasivita Carly. Black smoke rose from the plane in the morning, whose wreckage could be seen amid destroyed homes as dozens of men tried to help with the rescue efforts.…