According to Cofeed, on the week as of January 17th, details of soybean oil inventories and outstanding contracts are as follows:

 

This week (Jan. 11-17), operation rates for soybean crush still stay at a very high level in spite of a slight decline, as mills are working at full swine due to good margins and continued replenishment for the Lunar New Year. The crush at domestic mills totals 2,001,700 tonnes (meal 1,581,343 tonnes and oil 380,323 tonnes), down 38,400 tonnes or 1.8% from 2,040,100 tonnes in the previous week. Meanwhile, operation rates (capacity utilization) reach 57.12%, down 1.1 percentage points from 58.22% in the previous week. Soybean crush will decline drastically in the next two weeks as mills will suspend for the festival, to 920,000 tonnes next week and to only 20,000 tonnes that week just in the Lunar New Year. 

 

Soybean oil stocks go on declining this week. In the week as of Jan. 17th, China’s commercial inventory has totaled 850,900 tonnes, down 26,600 tonnes by 3.03% from 877,500 tonnes last week, down 81,100 tonnes by 8.7% from 932,000 tonnes last month, and down 572,100 tonnes by 40.2% from 1,423,000 tonnes of the corresponding period last year. And the five-year average at the same period is 1,119,300 tonnes. 

 

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