HARBIN — Major soybean growers in China are on an expansion mode to achieve a fast growth in domestic supply of high-quality soybean produce this year, while cutting the country’s dependence on imports.

The seeding for soybeans is going on in North China’s Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and Central Henan province, with an estimated planting expansion rate of over 10 percent this year.

China’s soybean imports declined for the first time in seven years, according to the China Agricultural Sector Development Report 2019 released on May 13. The import volume was 88.03 million tons last year, down by 7.9 percent year-on-year.

Soybean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed on May 13 at the lowest level in more than 10 years, as traders showed increasing concerns about the escalating trade friction between the United States and China.

China announced on May 13 that it will raise the rate of additional tariffs imposed on some of the imported US products from June 1. This decision came after the US move to increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent as of May 10.