China is poised to remain the biggest importer of Brazil’s farm products for 2014, the nation’s state-run news agency, Xinhua, reported this week.

The agency cited the latest figures from the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply. They indicate China imported agricultural products worth US$21.57 billion from Brazil in the January-November period of 2014, the highest figure among other importers.

In the first 11 months, China’s imports of soya beans from the South American nation already accounted for nearly 80 percent of the total agricultural imports, or US$16.96 billion.

“It [China] is likely to become the biggest market for Brazil’s agricultural products for two years in a row,” Xinhua reported.

China surpassed the European Union in 2013 to be the largest importer of Brazilian farm products with imports worth US$22.88 billion.

In November last year, the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture and the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine sealed a deal that China would officially lift the trade embargo on Brazil’s beef. China had banned beef imports from Brazil since December 2012, after a case of atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy – commonly known as mad cow disease – was confirmed in Paraná state of Brazil.