Today (Oct 27), the market for meals in China is shown as follows:

Soybean meal: U.S. soybean futures advanced on Monday on robust export demand, and meal futures keep range-bound on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange today. Spot soybean meal prices steadily fluctuate 10-20 CNY to 3,200-3,300 CNY/tonne today in coastal region, attracting some purchases on low-level basis. (Tianjin 3300, Shandong 3265-3300, Jiangsu 3225-3290, Dongguan 3200-3240, and Guangxi 3260-3290.)

The cost of importing soybean is growing due to strong performance in U.S. soybean futures. Domestic oil mills are selling soybean meal at a brisk pace owing to improving demand from breeding sectors, especially in pig feed production, and they are also limiting the quantity for delivery, which causes a delay in truck loading. Oil mills have strong sentiment for higher prices, which is supporting meal market. However, U.S. soybean futures are also under marketing pressure. Meanwhile, China’s soybean crush continued moving to 2.19 mln tonnes last week and is expected to stay above 2.15 mln tonnes this week. Besides, domestic aquaculture is into the off-season. And oils prices are still firm so that investors are selling meals to make arbitrage, which also curb rises in meal prices. Overall, short-term meal prices will keep strengthening with fluctuations.

Imported rapeseed meal: U.S. soybean futures rose further and set to a four-year new high on Monday on China’s strong demand. Rapeseed meal futures fluctuate slightly on China’s Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange today. And rapeseed meal price in coastal regions settles at 2,460-2,600 CNY/tonne, seeing a light trading. Rapeseed crush still stays at low levels due to limited rapeseed imports amid tensions between Ottawa and Beijing. In this case, the supply of rapeseed meal gets tightened, so oil mills limit the delivery and buyers even line up to get order. Except that, oil mills intend to prop up price due to quicker delivery of soybean meal under fast selling, boosting meal prices. Additionally, Soybean crush may pick up by 5.2% to 2.19 mln tonnes this week amid huge imports. Furthermore, aquaculture is gradually entering into an off season, which limits price rises of rapeseed meal tentatively. Hence, short-term rapeseed meal market will mainly fluctuate at the high level.

Imported fishmeal: Imported fishmeal prices steady with a rise today and can be traded through negotiation. Peruvian Standard SD with 65% protein content is 10,000-10,300 CNY/tonne, up 100 CNY/tonne from yesterday; Peruvian higher-quality SD with 65% protein content is 10,500-10,800 CNY/tonne, up 100 CNY/tonne; Peruvian higher-quality SD with 67% protein content is 11,000-11,400 CNY/tonne, up 100 CNY/tonne; and Peruvian Super Prime SD with 68% protein content is 11,600-11,800 CNY/tonne, up 100 CNY/tonne. Domestic port inventories are not pressuring the market, and Peruvian exporters do not have much fishmeal in stock so that they turn to stall sales and lift prices. Hence, domestic traders also have strong sentiment to prop up prices, which is leading support to the market. However, aquaculture is entering into the off-season in China as the weather gets cool, so its feed demand for fishmeal is lessening and feed manufacturers have weakening enthusiasm. These are constraining rises in the domestic market. Overall, domestic fishmeal prices are expected to steady with a slight adjustment in the near term.

Stocks at ports: Huangpu 51,500 tonnes, Fuzhou 12,000 tonnes, Shanghai 23,500 tonnes, Tianjin 500 tonnes, Dalian 4,200 tonnes, Fangchenggang 1,100 tonnes and 3,860 tonnes at other ports.

FOB quotes from foreign markets today: Nov/Dec shipments are quoted steadily at 1,380 USD/tonne for Peruvian Standard with 65% protein content and at 1,610 USD/tonne for Peruvian super with 68% protein content. Chilean Standard with 65% protein content is quoted higher by 10 USD at 1,370 USD/tonne, and super with 68% protein content at 1,600 USD/tonne.

Cottonseed meal: Cottonseed meal prices stay stable and decrease by 40-50 CNY/tonne in several regions today. Cottonseed price falls from high levels. And the operation rate in crushing mills will pick up, so the supply of cottonseed meal is likely to increase. Plus, cottonseed meal trading is light. These are all bearish for cottonseed meal market. Besides, U.S. soybean keeps strengthening, lifting the cost of importing soybean. Moreover, feed production has been seeing a relatively huge increase in pig feed as livestock breeding is recovering gradually. Furthermore, some soybean crushing mills limit the delivered volume due to fast selling and have strong intention to raise price, which supports cottonseed meal. Therefore, it is predicted that cottonseed meal market will not drop too much and still fluctuate at a high level on the whole.

(USD $1=CNY ¥6.70)