By Ella Cao and Naveen Thukral
BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Chinese importers kept up a hectic pace of Argentine soybean purchases after the South American supplier's move to abolish export taxes temporarily made its prices competitive, traders said on Wednesday.
The purchases are chipping away at U.S. market share as its farmers begin harvesting a bumper crop shunned by China amid a trade war between the world's two largest economies.
Since Argentina lifted its tax on Monday, Chinese buyers have booked
about 20 cargoes, or roughly 1.3 million tons of Argentinian soybeans, two traders said.
On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Chinese buyers had ordered at least 10 cargoes, with one trader putting the figure at 15 Panamax-sized cargoes of 65,000 metric tons each.
U.S. soybeans have become prohibitively expensive for Chinese buyers, thanks to retaliatory tariffs imposed by Beijing in their trade war.
"Essentially China will have enough beans without U.S. beans," said one trader at an international firm that ships beans to China and is one of the buyers of such cargoes.
"Most of the cargoes are for November shipment and around 20% are for shipment next year from the new Argentinian crop that will be harvested from April."
The traders spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, as the matter is a sensitive one.
The purchases include a mix of old and new crops, priced at a premium of about $2 a bushel to the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) November soybean contract, the two Asian traders said.
Argentina said the grain tax suspension will run through October or until declared exports reach $7 billion, a move that has driven Chinese soymeal futures lower.
The continued purchases from Argentina are helping China fill more supply gaps during a period usually dominated by U.S. sellers, the traders added.
Beijing has not yet booked any U.S. soybeans from its autumn harvest, traders have said.
Chinese crushing margins for Argentine soybeans are attractive at about 200 yuan ($28) a ton, said Wang Wenshen, an analyst at Sublime China Information.
"China is likely to further accelerate purchases of Argentine soybeans to fill the procurement gap from November to January before the October 31 deadline or the $7-billion quota limit," Wang said.
"This will further reduce the market's reliance on U.S. soybeans."
($1=7.1188 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Ella Cao in Beijing and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Tony Munroe and Clarence Fernandez)
