According to Cofeed, on the week as of October 4th, details of soybean oil inventories and outstanding contracts are as follows:

 

Soybean crush dropped sharply in week 40 (Sept. 28-Oct. 4) as mills shut down for the National Day holiday and some in Rizhao restricted production for environmental protection. Soybean crush at domestic mills totaled 1,155,700 tonnes (meal 913,003 tonnes and oil 219,583 tonnes), down 659,450 tonnes, or 36.33%, from 1815,150 tonnes in the previous week. Meanwhile, the operation rate (capacity utilization) was 31.88%, down 18.19 percentage points from 50.07% in the previous week. Soybean crush will stay at a low level this week as most mills have yet resumed production, and is predicted to be around 1.30 mln tonnes this week and rise to around 1.69 mln tonnes in week 42. 

 

Despite the sharp fall in soybean crush, soybean oil inventory continues to pile higher due to slow shipments as the demand is rather weak in the market. On the week as of Oct. 4th, China’s commercial inventory has totaled 1,350,840 tonnes, up 1,690 tonnes by 0.13% from 1,349,150 tonnes last week, up 18,540 tonnes by 1.39% from 1,332,300 tonnes last month, yet down 372,660 tonnes by 21.62% from 1,723,500 tonnes of the corresponding period last year. And the five-year average at the same period is 1,361,000 tonnes.

 

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