According to final detailed investigation and verification by Cofeed, soybean crush in oil mills in March totals 6,578,300 tonnes (meal 5,196,857 tonnes and oil 1,249,877 tonnes), up 253,600 tonnes by 4.00% from 6,324,700 tonnes in February, and down by 6.34% from 7,024,300 tonnes of the same period last year.

 

Soybean crush nationwide totals 40,734,700 tonnes in the crushing year of 2019/2020 (from Oct. 1st, 2019), down 354,200 tonnes by 0.86% from 41,088,900 tonnes in 2018/2019. In calendar 2020 (from Jan. 1st, 2020), national soybean crush totals 18,816,000 tonnes, up 984,600 tonnes by 5.52% from 17,831,400 tonnes in 2019.

 

China’s Customs: Soybean Imports in China by Month (0’000 tonnes)

 

 

Remarks: Imports from January to September in 2020 were surveyed and estimated by Cofeed

 

China imported 13,514,300 tonnes of soybeans in January-February, 2020, up by 1,682,100 tonnes or 14.22% from 11,832,200 tonnes the same period last year, according to China’s customs. And Brazil was still the largest supplier. In January-February, China imported 5.14 mln tonnes of soybeans from Brazil, down 1.779 mln tonnes by 25.71% from 6.919 mln tonnes in the previous year; China imported 6.1019 mln tonnes of U.S. soybeans, up 5.0582 mlnn tonnes by 484.64% from 1.0437 mln tonnes the same period last year. While China imported 1.8026 mln tonnes of soybeans from Argentina, a decrease of 23,600 tonnes or 1.29% from 1.8262 mln tonnes in the previous year.

 

China is expected to receive 104 cargoes totaling 6.82 mln tonnes of imported soybeans in April, according to Cofeed. As the shipping weight of Brazilian soybeans heading to China hit a record high of 10 mln tonnes in March, the vessel lineups in April has reached 9.32 mln tonnes and it would be also super high in April if logistics are not under the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Normally it takes 45 days for Brazilian soybeans to China. According to latest soybean vessel lineups, soybean arrivals in May forecast at 9.6 mln tonnes, and the initial estimate for June is 9.5 mln tonnes; 9.3 mln tonnes in July; 8.5 mln tonnes in August; 7.5 mln tonnes in September. Based on this, China’s soybean imports are projected to be 92,662,500 tonnes in 2019/2020 (October-September, 2019/20), an increase of 9,867,600 tonnes or 11.92% from 82,194,900 tonnes that surveyed last year. Statistics will be updated every week on account of variable and unstable buying.

 

 

Soybean crush continued picking up and the arrival of soybeans only reached 4.62 mln tonnes, which resulted in decreasing soybean stocks in March. By the end of March, domestic imported soybean stocks totaled 3,547,100 tonnes, down by 1,369,100 tonnes or 27.84% from 4,916,200 tonnes in February and down by 20.50% from 4,462,000 tonnes of the corresponding period last year. As the shipment of South American soybeans was delayed amid the coronavirous pandemic, soybean arrivals in April would be lower than expected. Therefore, it is predicted that soybean stocks still stay at low levels in April.