The overall operation rate has fractionally rallied this week (Oct. 5-11) , but remains at a low level as some mills have yet resumed production after the holiday. Soybean crush at domestic mills totals 1,294,400 tonnes (meal 1,022,576 tonnes and oil 245,936 tonnes), up 138,700 tonnes, or 12.00%, from 1,155,700 tonnes in the previous week. Meanwhile, the operation rate (capacity utilization) is 35.70%, up 3.82 percentage points from 31.88% in the previous week. Soybean crush is predicted to return to a normal level in the coming two weeks, to 1.72 mln tonnes next week and 1.85 mln tonnes that following week. 

 

As of this week, soybean crush nationwide totals 1,954,800 tonnes in the crushing year of 2019/20 (from October 1st, 2019), down 1,036,586 tonnes, or 34.6%, from 2,991,385 tonnes of the same period last year. In 2019 (from Jan. 1st, 2019), national soybean crush amounts to 63,996,215 tonnes, down 4,424,965 tonnes, or 6.46%, from 68,421,180 tonnes of the corresponding period in 2018. 

 

Fig.: Soybean Weekly Crush in China (2015-2019)

 

Details for weekly crush by region and by group are shown as follows: