According to Cofeed, on the week as of Dec 18, details of soybean stocks and soybean meal stocks and outstanding contracts in coastal regions are as follows:

Soybean: Imported soybean stocks continue decreasing this week, as soybean crush climbs further to 2 mln tonnes when oil mills work to maintain high operation rates to meet strong soybean oil demand. In the week as of Dec 18, China’s imported soybean stocks in coastal regions total 5,340,400 tonnes, down 146,000 tonnes by 2.66% from 5,486,400 tonnes last week and up by 43.58% from 3,719,300 tonnes of the same period last year. Domestic soybean stocks usually decreased gradually from September in previous years, but China has purchased many more U.S. soybeans this year as a part of the trade deal, so it is necessary to focus on whether soybean crush would stay high.  

Fig. 1: China’s coastal soybean carry-over stocks in recent years

Soybean meal: Soybean meal stocks decrease this week due to quicker meal delivery, but the decline is small under high soybean crush. In the week as of Dec 18, China’s soybean meal stocks in coastal regions are 855,900 tonnes, down 30,400 tonnes by 3.43% from 886,300 tonnes last week and up by 96.39% from 435,800 tonnes of the corresponding period last year. As soybean crush will marginally drop to 1.95 mln tonnes next week, soybean meal stocks are likely to keep reducing.

Fig. 2: China’s coastal soybean meal carry-over stocks in recent years

Outstanding contracts: The amount of soybean meal in outstanding contracts continues reducing this week. In the week as of Dec 18, outstanding contracts in mills in domestic coastal regions hold 4,724,500 tonnes not delivered, down 752,700 tonnes by 13.74% from 5,477,200 tonnes last week and up by 73.56% from 2,722,000 tonnes of the same period last year.

Fig. 3: China’s coastal soybean meal in outstanding contracts in recent years