China is ramping up imports of feed meals from Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan to supply its vast livestock sector. Customs data shows surging volumes in 2025, as China turns to the Black Sea to offset shifting global markets. Stable access to feed grains is now a strategic priority.
Russian meal shipments soar
Russian meal and cake exports to China have surged in 2025, according to customs data. During the first 8 months of 2025, Russia delivered 657,000 tonnes of plant cakes and meals to China, 130% higher than a year earlier. In monetary terms, the export reached to $203 million, more than twice that of a year earlier.
Russia emerged as the third-largest supplier of meals and cakes to China last year.
Essential for China’s livestock sector
China remains one of the most important markets for Russia’s oil, fats, and feed products, according to Dmitry Kurbatov, Director of International Trade at Zheng Dong Corporation.
The imported meal is primarily used to feed China’s agricultural livestock sector, including pigs, poultry, and cattle, which remains one of the largest in the world. As the country continues rebuilding and modernising its animal protein industry, stable supplies of protein-rich feed ingredients such as rapeseed, sunflower, and soybean meal have become strategically important.
New routes and more opportunities
Russia has an opportunity to further boost supplies to China, taking advantage of the structural changes in its local feed industry, Kurbatov added.
“China is actively expanding domestic processing, but remains dependent on imported oilseeds. Russian companies have a good chance of gaining a sustainable share in this segment thanks to the quality and stability of their supplies,” Kurbatov said.
Recently, Russia launched a new train line from Tatarstan in the Central part of the country that will deliver feed meal to China. This is expected to further boost the supplies.
Ukraine focuses on Asian buyers
During the first half of the 2025/26 marketing year, Ukraine saw a 70% jump in rapeseed exports to 340,000 tonnes, as estimated by UkgAgroConsult, a think tank. China has emerged as the leading buyer of Ukrainian rapeseed meal, with deliveries reaching 155,000 tonnes. Ukraine’s rapeseed meal exports to the European Union (EU), on the contrary, dropped from 171,000 to 71,000 tonnes.
According to Ukrainian analysts, China is seeking feed meal on the alternative market, primarily due to a decline in deliveries from Canada resulting from trade conflict between the 2 countries.
Kazakhstan exports wheat and barley meal
Kazakhstan’s feed meal exports to China are surging, with volumes in the first 11 months of 2025 hitting 2.65 million tons, a 2.5-fold increase over the previous year. Driven by high demand in China’s Xinjiang region, this trade consists mainly of 80% wheat meal and 20% barley, with 98% of exports heading to China.
