I. October soybean crush in China

 

China’s soybean crush totaled 8,388,320 tonnes in October (meal 6,626,773 tonnes and oil 1,593,781 tonnes), a decrease of 713,180 tonnes or 7.84% from 9,101,500 tonnes in September but an increase of 25.35% from 6,691,800 tonnes a year earlier, according to final detailed investigation and verification by Cofeed.

 

Soybean crush nationwide totaled 8,388,320 tonnes in the crushing year of 2020/2021 (from Oct 1st, 2020), up 1,696,520 tonnes by 25.35% from 6,691,800 tonnes in 2019/2020. In the calendar year of 2020 (from Jan 1st, 2020), national soybean crush totaled 78,242,270 tonnes, up 9,523,370 tonnes by 13.85% from 68,718,900 tonnes in 2019.

 

Fig.: Soybean Crush in China by Month

 

Details for monthly soybean crush by region are shown as follows:

 

October Soybean Crush in China by Region (tonne)
Ranking	Region	1st-2nd	3rd-9th	10th-16th	17th-23rd	24th-30th	31st	Total
1	Shandong	94800	333400	361600	329600	356680	49040	1525120
2	Jiangsu	73000	299000	329000	358500	377500	61500	1498500
3	Guangdong	31000	87500	224000	265200	228400	33200	869300
4	Liaoning	27000	129500	209600	234600	233100	24300	858100
5	Guangxi	14000	95000	213500	251500	224000	32000	830000
6	Tianjin	25000	95500	149000	150500	147000	21500	588500
7	Hebei	13000	77000	149000	155400	143000	17100	554500
8	Fujian	12000	80500	101500	78500	41100	10700	324300
9	Zhejiang	6000	50000	85400	70400	53900	9200	274900
10	Sichuan	0	25000	58300	78700	56700	8300	227000
11	Hubei	11200	23200	35700	45900	49700	4100	169800
12	Henan	5600	28600	40600	40600	40600	5800	161800
13	Jilin	0	12000	28000	28000	28000	4000	100000
14	Chongqing	0	15000	17500	17500	27500	6500	84000
15	Shaanxi	0	8400	22400	22400	21200	2000	76400
16	Hunan	0	1000	19600	19600	19600	2800	62600
17	Anhui	3000	15300	18900	12900	8400	2700	61200
18	Shanghai	0	0	11250	17500	17500	2500	48750
19	Jiangxi	3100	10850	10850	10850	10500	1500	47650
20	Heilongjiang	0	800	5600	5600	5600	800	18400
21	Inner Mongolia	0	0	0	3500	3500	500	7500
22	Xinjiang	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	Shanxi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	318700	1387550	2091300	2197250	2093480	300040	8388320
Remarks: Above is the final data after verification.

 

II. Soybean imports in China

 

China imported 9,789,200 tonnes of soybean in September, an increase of 184,700 tonnes or 1.92% from 9,604,500 tonnes in August and 1,594,000 tonnes or 19.45% from 8,195,200 tonnes in September 2019, data by China’s Customs showed. January-September 2020 soybean imports totaled 74,528,400 tonnes in China, up 10,019,900 tonnes or 15.53% from 64,508,500 tonnes in the same period last year.

 

China’s Customs: Soybean Imports in China by Month (0’000 tonnes)
M/Y	2019	2020
Jan	737.70	783.77
Feb	446.00	567.56
Mar	492.00	427.78
Apr	764.00	671.45
May	736.00	937.71
Jun	651.32	1116.02
Jul	864.03	1009.14
Aug	948.07	960.45
Sept	819.66	978.92
Oct	618.14	866.30
Nov	827.76	914.90
Dec	954.24	880.00
Total	8858.92	10114.00
Note: Oct-Dec 2020 imports are based on data by Cofeed.

 

Brazil was still the top supplier. China imported 7,245,100 tonnes of soybeans from Brazil in September, down 904,000 tonnes or 11.09% from 8,149,100 tonnes in the previous month, but up 2,457,400 tonnes or 51.33% from 4,787,700 tonnes a year earlier. China’s soybean imports from Brazil totaled 56,124,300 tonnes in Jan-Sept 2020, up 10,933,700 tonnes or 24.19% from 45,190,600 tonnes in the same period last year.

 

China imported 1,168,600 tonnes of U.S. soybeans in September, up 1,002,200 tonnes or 602.28% from 116,400 tonnes in the previous month but down 561,600 tonnes or 32.46% from 1,730,200 tonnes in September 2019. China’s soybean imports from the U.S. totaled 10,610,900 tonnes in Jan-Sept 2020, up 463,700 tonnes or 4.57% from 10,147,200 tonnes in the same period last year.

 

Soybean arrivals at domestic ports are 133 vessels or 8,663,000 tonnes in October, preliminary survey by Cofeed showed. Soybean arrivals are forecast to be 133 vessels or 9,149,000 tonnes in November, 8.80 mln tonnes in December, 7.50 mln tonnes in January 2021, and 6 mln tonnes in February 2021. Statistics will be revised every week on account of variable and unstable buying.

 

III. Carryover soybean stocks in China

 

China’s soybean stocks go down in October as soybean arrivals have decreased this month while soybean crush still maintains a fairly high level. By the end of October, imported soybean stocks in China totaled 6,963,100 tonnes, down 522,300 tonnes or 7.50% from 7,485,400 tonnes in September yet up by 50.52% from 4,626,000 tonnes of the same period last year. Domestic soybean stocks usually decreased gradually from September in previous years, but China has purchased much more U.S. soybeans this year as a part of the trade deal, so it is necessary to focus on soybean crush.

 

 

IV. October Soybean Crush Margins in China

 

Soybean Crush Margins in China (CNY/tonne)
Date	U.S. soybean	Brz. soybean	Arg. soybean	Distributed	Domestic
10/9/2020	113	131	123	289	-568
10/12/2020	123	143	167	347	-528
10/13/2020	153	145	147	322	-563
10/14/2020	107	99	101	295	-584
10/15/2020	111	104	77	319	-570
10/16/2020	81	72	42	308	-571
10/19/2020	79	41	42	261	-613
10/20/2020	89	29	29	274	-568
10/21/2020	137	79	75	336	-536
10/22/2020	147	90	87	365	-531
10/23/2020	147	116	94	383	-531
10/26/2020	122	92	67	386	-504
10/27/2020	99	69	44	-130	-518
10/28/2020	93	63	55	-148	-533
10/29/2020	111	81	74	-194	-560
10/30/2020	163	134	124	-172	-554