Today (Aug 12), the market for meals in China is shown as follows:

Soybean meal: U.S. soybean futures to close higher on Tuesday, as private exporters reported to the USDA export sales of 132,000 tonnes of soybeans for delivery to China. But meal futures still post slight declines on Dalian Commodity Exchange today. Spot soybean meal prices go down 10-30 CNY/tonne to 2,800-2,910 CNY/tonne in coastal regions, attracting some low-level purchases. (Tianjin 2910, Shandong 2845-2870, Jiangsu 2815-2850, Dongguan 2800-2820, and Guangxi 2820-2850.) The market remains under growing pressure from a big U.S. soybean harvest outlook. China is to see huge soybean arrivals in August and September, and its domestic soybean crush maintains at a very high level. In the week as of August 7^th, China’s soybean meal inventories rose 9% to 935,000 tonnes. Crushing plants have begun to face storage pressure, so that some of them are seeking to ramp up the delivery, which is also curbing meal prices. But concerns still linger on tensions between China and the United States, and oil millers still have a lot of outstanding contracts, which is supporting prices. Overall, short-term soybean meal prices may keep range-bound with slight declines. For the USDA August Supply/Demand and World Production report on Wednesday, the market is expecting a sharp increase in soybean yield owing to good crop conditions, so buyers can wait for the moment as it could bring some bearish effects.

Imported rapeseed meal: US soybean futures closed higher on Tuesday. Meal futures in China fluctuated slightly today. And rapeseed meal price in coastal regions settled at 2,230-2,300 CNY/tonne, fluctuating by 10-30 CNY/tonne. It saw a light trading. Rapeseed crush stays at low levels due to limited rapeseed imports amid tensions between China and Canada. Besides, aquaculture has entered into a peak season and breeding industry is also recovering gradually. In this case, soybean meal for August contract has been basically sold out. Moreover, rapeseed meal price may be underpinned by worries about souring ties between US and China. However, soybean arrival at ports in August will surpass 10 mln tonnes, leading to a super high operation rate. Consequently, soybean meal stocks also stop declining and bounce back. With the bearish factors in fundamentals, rapeseed meal price is curbed and will likely fluctuate at a narrow range in the near term. Participants can keep close eyes on the report by USDA.

Imported fishmeal: Imported fishmeal prices mostly move further lower today and can be traded through negotiation. Peruvian Standard SD with 65% protein content is 10,700-10,800 CNY/tonne, down 100 CNY/tonne from yesterday; Peruvian higher-quality SD with 65% protein content is 11,100-11,300 CNY/tonne, down 100 CNY; Peruvian higher-quality SD with 67% protein content is 11,900-12,300 CNY/tonne, down 100-200 CNY/tonne; and Peruvian Super Prime SD with 68% protein content is 12,600-12,700 CNY/tonne, down 100 CNY/tonne. With fresh, lower-cost fishmeal from Peru, Chinese traders are following the market trend to make shipments, which is adding bearish sentiment to domestic fishmeal market. Overall, domestic fishmeal market is predicted to stay stable with slight declines in the near term.

Stocks at ports: Huangpu 46,000 tonnes, Fuzhou 14,000 tonnes, Shanghai 28,000 tonnes, Tianjin 1,000 tonnes, Dalian 6,000 tonnes, Fangchenggang 1,000 tonnes and 4,000 tonnes at other ports.

FOB quotes from foreign markets today: Sept/Oct shipments are quoted steadily at 1,200 USD/tonne for Peruvian Standard with 65% protein content and at 1,430 USD/tonne for Peruvian super with 68% protein content. Chilean Standard with 65% protein content is quoted at 1,220 USD/tonne, and super with 68% protein content at 1,450 USD/tonne.

Fish catches in Peru: Up to now, fish catches in the first season of 2020 total 2,325,142 tonnes, exhausting 96.36% of the total quota of 2.413 mln tonnes and with the fishing average at around 27,000 tonnes per day and 87,858 tonnes remaining available.

Cottonseed meal: Cottonseed meal prices stay stable today. U.S. soybean expects a bumper harvest, straining on global supply. Soybean arrival at ports is huge in quantity in August and September, and could be as high as 8 mln tonnes each month in the fourth quarter. With soybean crush staying at high levels, soybean meal inventory has increased by 9% weekly to 935,000 tonnes, which puts pressure on crushing mills. Meal futures on Dalian Commodity Exchange today drop slightly, and spot soybean meal down by 10-30 CNY/tonne in coastal areas. Besides, the demand for cottonseed meal is reduced as feed mills adjust the feed formula due to its lower cost performance compared to soybean meal. Consequently, cottonseed oil trading gets lighter, depressing cottonseed meal price. However, cottonseed is pricey, pushing up the cost, so factories prop up cottonseed meal price, which leads cottonseed meal to be resilient tentatively. Therefore, short-term cottonseed meal market is predicted to fluctuate to fall slightly.

(USD $1=CNY ¥6.96)