BEIJING, (Reuters) – China’s soybean imports increased sharply in November compared to the previous month. This was due to more shipments arriving from the United States during peak North American export season. Customs data were released on Tuesday.

Data from the General Administration of Customs revealed that November was the top month for soybeans buyers in the world. That’s 68% higher than October’s total of 5.11 millions.

The September hurricane Ida caused a halt to U.S. grain exports. It also delayed shipments by causing terminal damage and crippling U.S. ports.

The U.S. saw a rise in shipments as Hurricane Irma reduced its impact and the market moved into peak export season.

The U.S. soybean imports to China for the current marketing year were predicted to drop from previous years due the the delays caused by Hurricane Irma. These hurricanes also cut off the export window of American beans. However, they still faced stiff competition from the early Brazilian harvest.

China’s November soybean imports fell from 9.59 Million tonnes in December a year ago, after a significant volume of U.S. cargoes arrived as a result of a trade agreement.

The first eleven months of this year saw China import 87.65 millions tonnes of soybeans, a decrease of 5.5% over the preceding year’s corresponding period, according to data.

The 2021 soybean shipment was slower than the year before, due to low crush margins.

China’s soybean crush margins grew from record lows in June to over 200 yuan per tonne by October before retreating.

In Sichuan in southwest China, the top producer of porcines, hog margins average 250 yuan per head. That’s a sharp rise from late October, when farms were losing 400 yuan each.

However, pig prices could fall in 2012 if the production isn’t cut significantly according to the farm ministry.

China brought in another 673,000 tonnes in vegetable oils to China in November. According to data, imports increased by 1.6% in November, reaching 9.573million tonnes over the same period last year.