China’s soybean crush level edges up to 1.8 mil mt: CNGOIC

China’s weekly soybean crush volume edged up to 1.8 million mt last week, 4.05% higher than the previous week’s level of 1.73 million mt, data from the China National Grain and Oil Information Centre showed.

The level last week represents a 11% decline from a month ago and a 12.5% rise from a year ago.

Some crushers in the eastern province of Shandong have limited their operating capacity recently because of environmental issues, while the downstream demand for soybean meal remains lukewarm, leading some crushers to lower their utilization rates as they are overwhelmed by existing soymeal stocks.

As a result, soybean crush levels are expected to be steady at 1.8 million mt this week, according to CNGOIC.

Soybean stocks as of December 29 continued to rise by nearly 13% from the previous week to 6.12 million mt, with the level also being a 21% and 57% growth from a month and a year ago, respectively.

Soybean arrivals have increased since December 2023 and are expected to be close to 8 million mt in January this year.

Soymeal stocks meanwhile also rose by 2.2% from the previous week to 942,000 mt, with the level representing a 15% growth and a 68% rise from a month and a year ago.

Soymeal stocks are expected to continue rising going forward.

Overall, the feed industry’s demand for the product will remain sluggish as it continues to suffer deep losses, while the drop in utilization rates at crush plants has not been significant enough to change the situation of ample soymeal supplies.

Soybean oil stocks remained flat at 920,000 mt, the same as the previous week and a month ago, while the level was 35% higher than a year ago.