China's soybean product imports: an analysis of price effects using a production system approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to estimate China's demand for imported soybeans and soybean oil from both country-of-origin and product form perspectives. Design/methodology/approach – A differential production approach is used to estimate China's demand for imported soybeans and soybean oil. The empirical demand estimates are then used to derive conditional and unconditional elasticities of demand for each exporting country with respect to changes in domestic and import prices, and the price of resources used in soybean meal and oil production. Findings – Results indicate that both country-of-origin and product form competition exist in the Chinese market. Estimation results indicate that China's soybean meal prices significantly impacted its soybean and soybean oil imports. Seasonality is detected in China's soybean imports, but not in soybean oil imports. Practical implications – The findings suggest that, in addition to country-of-origin competition, product form competition should be considered when analyzing China's soybean demand. Originality/value – This paper contributes to a better understanding of China's soybean import market by integrating both country-of-origin competition and product form competition into a single demand framework.