China, the world's largest soybean importer, has seen its domestic soy oil prices continue to drop since the end of April, according to monitoring data from Xinhua News Agency.

Average soy oil prices in major cities across the country had dropped 2.5 percent by May 17 compared with the end of April. In some cities, the price drop was as large as 8.5 percent, according to Xinhua. The oil is mainly used as cooking oil by Chinese consumers.

Industry analysts said the price decline was mainly caused by falling prices on the global market.

The country imported 4.28 million metric tons of soybeans in April, lower than the earlier estimate of 5.45 million tons, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce. During the month, the nation also imported 79,500 tons of soy oil, the ministry said.