According to Cofeed, this week (as of Dec. 28th), details of soybean oil stock and amounts in outstanding contracts are as follows:

 

　　Unit: 0’000 tonne

      

 

　　Soybean oil stock continues to post a decline this week, but the decline is narrowed down markedly compared to the previous two weeks. As of December 28th, the inventory of soybean oil totals 1,628,400 tonnes, down 17,300 tonnes by 1.05% from 1,645,700 tonnes last week, down 167,500 tonnes by 9.33% from 1,795,900 tonnes month-on-month, and down 16,600 tonnes by 1.01% from 1,645,000 tonnes year-on-year. And the mean of the same period in recent five years is 1,253,400 tonnes.

 

　　The narrower decline this week can be contributed to the sustained pickups in operation rate in oil mills. Consequently, national soybean crush has come to 1,862,800 tonnes (meal 1,471,612 tonnes and oil 353,932 tonnes), an increment of 160,600 tonnes by 9.4% from 1,702,200 tonnes last week. The operation rate (capacity utilization) has went up by 3.95 percentage points to 52.55% from 48.60% last week. The crush volume will maintain at a high level in the next two weeks, to around 1.87 Mln tonnes next week (week 1, 2019) and to 1.88 Mln tonnes in week 2, 2019. Overall, the decline of soybean oil stock will continue to slow down in the coming two weeks. 

 

      

　　Fig.: China’s Soybean Oil Stocks in Recent Years