By Laurie Chen, Mei Mei Chu, Ella Cao and Naveen Thukral
BEIJING (Reuters) - China, the world's biggest soybean buyer, has stopped receiving Brazilian soybean shipments from five entities after cargoes did not meet phytosanitary requirements, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.
The suspension comes as Brazil has been bolstering its share of the world's biggest soybean market at the expense of the no. 2 exporter the United States.
China, which buys more than 60% of soybeans shipped across the world, now takes more than 70% of its imports of the oilseed from Brazil, eating into U.S. market share.
With worries of renewed Washington-Beijing trade tensions, China secured nearly all of its soybeans from Brazil for first-quarter shipment ahead of Donald Trump taking office as president.
Brazil has from Jan. 8 suspended shipments to China from Terra Roxa Comercio de Cereais, Olam Brasil and C.Vale Cooperativa Agroindustrial, one of the sources said.
On Jan. 14, Chinese customs suspended shipments from Cargill Agricola S A and ADM do Brasil, the source added.
There were concerns after some cargoes had been found with chemical contamination, pests or insects, sources said.
The parent firms of the affected entities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
China's General Administration of Customs did not respond to a request for comment.
"When we try to process clearance on customs' website for soybeans shipped by these five companies, we are not able to proceed," said the second source, a trader at a China-based soybean crusher.
It was not clear how long the suspension would last, although traders expected it to be short-term.
"It depends mainly on how quickly the Brazilian companies can provide proof that they found out what was wrong that led to these inconformities and provide a plan to fix that," the first source said.
The suspended firms are units of some of the biggest soybean suppliers to China.
"We are taking it seriously," an official at one of the affected companies told Reuters. He declined to be named due to sensitivities of the issue.
China imported a record 105 million tons of soybeans in 2024.