China September 2026 trade: Brazil soybeans at 10.70 Mt, no Qatar LNG since July
China imported 10.70 million tonnes (Mt) of genetically modified soybeans from Brazil in September 2026. Customs data show no liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar for August or September.
A data update from FactIQ, written from General Administration of Customs of China figures. What is FactIQ?
Key figures
- China imports of genetically modified soybeans from Brazil, September 2026
- 10.70 Mtagainst 10.61 Mt in August and 10.96 Mt a year earlier
- China imports of liquefied natural gas from Qatar, July 2026 (latest figure)
- 425ktno figure for August or September; 1.43 Mt in September 2025
- China imports of liquefied natural gas from Australia, September 2026
- 1.82 Mtdown from 2.00 Mt in August, above 1.69 Mt a year earlier
- China preliminary exports of unwrought aluminium, September 2026
- 656ktup about 26% on a year earlier
China Customs published its detailed September 2026 trade figures by product and partner country. They show where China buys key food, energy and metal commodities.
Brazil still supplies far more soybeans than the US
Imports of genetically modified soybeans from Brazil were 10.70 million tonnes (Mt) in September. That compares with 10.61 Mt in August and 10.96 Mt a year earlier. Imports from the US rose to 361 thousand tonnes (kt) from 247kt in August. US cargoes that China bought after the late-September summit do not appear in these figures yet.China has recorded no liquefied natural gas from Qatar since July
The data have no figure for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar for August or September. The last figure is for July, at 425kt. In September 2025, China took 1.43 Mt from Qatar. In April 2026 it took just 9.6kt. LNG from Australia fell to 1.82 Mt in September from 2.00 Mt in August. That is still above the 1.69 Mt recorded a year earlier.Copper imports eased while aluminium exports and bauxite imports rose
- Copper concentrate from Chile fell to 608kt ($2.13bn) from 826kt ($2.92bn) in August.
- Preliminary imports of unwrought copper were 461kt, against 485kt a year earlier. Year-to-date imports total 3.76 Mt, down about 6.5%.
- Preliminary exports of unwrought aluminium were 656kt, up about 26% on a year earlier.
- Imports of bauxite, the ore used to make aluminium, from Guinea were 13.83 Mt, up about 33% on a year earlier.
- Imports of mid-size iron ore fines from Australia were 46.4 Mt, against 50.0 Mt a year earlier.
The July figure for Qatar LNG was revised down slightly
The July figure for Qatar LNG was revised to 425kt from 426.7kt. Most other revisions to July and August were small.Source: General Administration of Customs of China. See all GACC data in FactIQ.
About FactIQ and these updates
- What FactIQ is. FactIQ is a database of official statistics from government agencies, central banks and international organisations in the US, China, India, Europe and elsewhere. AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT connect to it to look up the exact figures and cite the agency that published them. It also holds what companies report in their filings and say on their earnings calls.
- How an update is made. When General Administration of Customs of China publishes new figures, FactIQ loads them and an AI model writes a short summary of what changed. Before it is published, code checks that every number in the summary matches FactIQ's record of the release, and a second review checks that nothing is overstated. Values that look like errors in the source data are left out.
- Where the numbers come from. Each key figure links to the full series, with its source, units and history.