Shanghai saw its soybean imports from the United States soar to 2.53 million tonnes in the first eight months of the year, up 91 percent year on year, accounting for 31.1 percent of its total imported soybeans from January to August, customs authorities said Wednesday.

The city imported a total of about 8.15 million tonnes of soybeans in the first eight months, an increase of 7.4 percent from the same period last year.

The megacity imported about 5.62 million tonnes of soybeans from Brazil, down 7.8 percent year on year, accounting for 68.9 percent of its total imported soybeans during the same period.

The total value of soybean imports in Shanghai from January to August reached 26.46 billion yuan (about 4.1 billion U.S. dollars), up 27.9 percent year on year, showed data from Shanghai Customs.