Today (Apr. 2), the market for meals in China is shown as follows:

Soybean meal: U.S. soybean futures fell in the wake of a sinking stock market on Wednesday. Investors in the financial markets dumped their holdings on the news that U.S. President Donald Trump would extend coronavirus emergency measures through the end of April after confirmed cases had exceeded 200,000 in this country. In addition, a majority of countries across the world had declared a lockdown measure, which forced restaurants to shut. Meal futures continue to fall on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) today. Soybean meal spot prices decline by 10-40 yuan/tonne in lukewarm trading. Specifically, the price settles at 2960-3240 yuan/tonne today. (Tianjin 3240, Shandong 3210-3300, Jiangsu 3260-3280, Dongguan 2950-2970, and Guangxi 3080-3100.) Chinese importers speed up to purchase soybeans due to handsome crush margins on the DCE. Brazil’s soybean shipments to China hit a record high of 9.9 mln tonnes in March, and for this, soybean arrivals at ports are forecast reach 8.9 mln tonnes in May. Catering businesses are crippling and the demand for meat products is also affected due to the rapid spread of the pandemic. The outlook in the demand for soybean meal is not that optimistic in the second quarter, which hits meal prices. However, many mills will keep lower operation rates or even remain idled in April for a lack of soybean supply, so that operation rates and soybean meal stocks have both fallen to a six-and-a-half-year fresh low. Mills now have no spot goods for sale and set very limited quantity for delivery. This has also forced some downstream feed plants to cut down or limit production. As the tight supplies in spot goods may continue till late April, soybean meal prices will stay more resilient that futures and will stay at a high level.

Imported rapeseed meal: Imported rapeseed meal price declines further today, of which it settles down 10-40 yuan/tonne at 2,320-2,400 yuan/tonne in coastal areas (Guangxi 2,320, down 10; Guangdong not offered; Fujian 2,380, down 10). Sources said that China has allowed Canadian canola seed exports to continue, which was reached on a conference call between China’s Customs Administration and Canada’s Farm Ministry on Tuesday. Both sides also came to an agreement that the canola seed must contained less than 1% foreign material. In consequence, rapeseed meal futures suffered a setback on the news. However, rapeseed crush still stays at a low level currently. Same goes for rapeseed meal inventories. Moreover, the operation rate is low in domestic soyoil plants and the soybean meal stocks are super low, so the fundamentals are still good. As the news of resume of Canadian canola seed imports still bears markets, short-term rapeseed meal pares gains, so buyers can take a wait-and-see attitude.

Imported fishmeal: Imported fishmeal prices are stable with a partial rise today and can be traded through negotiation. Peruvian Standard SD with 65% protein content is 11,700-12,100 yuan/tonne; Peruvian higher-quality SD with 65% protein content is 12,000-12,500 yuan/tonne; Peruvian higher-quality SD with 67% protein content is 12,600-13,000 yuan/tonne, a partial rise of 200 yuan/tonne; and Peruvian Super Prime SD with 68% protein content is 13,500-14,000 yuan/tonne, a partial rise of 200 yuan/tonne. As of March 30th, 2020, the Peruvian Ministry of Health (MINSA) has 852 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Peru. And the Peruvian government has extended the state of emergency until April 12. Given this situation, fishing time in the new season in its centre-north oceans is likely to get postponed. Chinese traders are optimistic about the market outlook, and in the meantime, industry traders even speculate that fishmeal will have a tight supply prospect. The sentiment in propping up prices is bullish to the fishmeal market. Nevertheless, aquaculture, in which fishmeal is used as feed, has not yet been in full swing in northern China due to capricious weather conditions. In addition, there is a lack of bulk demand from downstream feed manufacturers, as they are not willing to buy at current high prices. The subdued trade in the market is limited the upward space of fishmeal prices. On the whole, with bullish factors outweighing, fishmeal market is predicted to stay stable with a strengthening trend in the short run. Stocks at port: Huangpu 58,000 tonnes, Fuzhou 32,000 tonnes, Shanghai 30,000 tonnes, Tianjin 1,000 tonnes, Dalian 8,600 tonnes, Fangchenggang 1,000 tonnes and 4,000 tonnes at other ports. FOB quotes from foreign markets today: It is quoted steadily at 1,450 USD/tonne for Peruvian Standard with 65% protein content and 1,750 USD/tonne for Peruvian super with 68% protein content. Chilean Standard with 65% protein content is quoted steadily at 1,420 USD/tonne, and super with 68% protein content at 1,720 USD/tonne.

Cottonseed meal: Cottonseed meal prices are stable with partial declines of 20-70 yuan/tonne today. The downstream demand is poor. Besides, the number of COVID-19 infections in U.S. had exceeded 200,000, and there happened a huge sell-off in the financial market after President Donald Trump extending the emergency quarantine until the end of April. Moreover, countries around the world take lockdown measures and shut down the restaurants. In this case, U.S. soybean collapsed overnight. Today, meals on Dalian Commodity Exchange fall back further, and spot soybean meal down by 10-40 yuan/tonne. Hence, cottonseed oil factories receive few new orders but mostly have no pressure from inventories with previous contract. And factories still prop up price due to the high cost. Therefore, the downward space of short-term cottonseed meal price is projected to be limited.