Imported soybeans seen at a port in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu Province in August, 2018. Photo: IC

Amid the yearlong China-US trade war, China's soybean imports decreased 4.1 percent in the first 11 months of 2019 year on year, according to data from Chinese customs authority on Sunday.

In the first 11 months, the total trade volume was 28.5 trillion yuan ($4.05 trillion), 2.4 percent higher than the same period last year. Exports totaled 15.55 trillion yuan, 4.5 percent higher year on year, and imports stayed at the same level as last year's, according to the General Administration of Customs of China.

Soybean imports in the first 11 months was 78.97 million tons, 4.1 percent lower than the same period last year, and the average price was 2,739.7 yuan per ton, 3 percent lower year on year, the customs authority said.

This decrease of soybean imports appeared to be a result of the optimization of China's grain production structure, as the soybean production increased more than 13 percent in 2019 year on year, and the ongoing trade war between the US and China.

According to data released by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday, the farmland of grain crops in 2019 is 1.74 billion mu (116 million hectares), 0.8 percent lower than that of 2018, but the soybean farmland area is 149 million mu, 10.7 percent higher year on year.

The soybean production in 2019 was 18.1 billion kilograms, or 13.3 percent higher than that of 2018, according to the NBS.

Since the US initiated a trade war against China in 2018 and the negotiations between the two sides have lingered on, the volume of China's imported soybeans from the US has went up and down, causing panic for both US farmers and Chinese buyers.

But they saw a silver lining on Friday as China announced to exempt some taxes on US soybeans and pork.

The Customs Tariff Commission of the Chinese State Council said on Friday that it will designate a range of US goods for exclusion from tariffs as a countermeasure against the US' Section 301 move.