I. December soybean crush in China

 

China’s soybean crush totaled 8,422,490 tonnes in December (meal 6,653,767 tonnes and oil 1,600,273 tonnes), a decrease of 120,460 tonnes or 1.41% from 8,542,950 tonnes in November and an increase of 3.97% from 8,100,800 tonnes a year earlier, according to final detailed investigation and verification by Cofeed.

 

Soybean crush nationwide totaled 25,353,760 tonnes in the crushing year of 2020/2021 (from Oct 1st, 2020), up 3,435,060 tonnes by 15.67% from 21,918,700 tonnes in 2019/2020. In the calendar year of 2020 (from Jan 1st, 2020), national soybean crush totaled 95,207,710 tonnes, up 11,261,910 tonnes by 13.41% from 83,945,800 tonnes in 2019.

 

Fig.: Soybean Crush in China by Month

 

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

 

December Soybean Crush in China by Region (tonne)
Ranking	Region	1st-4th	5th-11th	12th-18th	19th-25th	26th-31st	Total
1	Jiangsu	217500	419500	410000	411000	300000	1758000
2	Shandong	216310	318480	260880	278080	222040	1295790
3	Guangdong	127400	208500	261400	183200	175000	955500
4	Guangxi	81000	217000	193000	146500	105000	742500
5	Liaoning	77200	144600	211600	168600	115800	717800
6	Hebei	64200	123000	154500	156800	123400	621900
7	Tianjin	70000	144500	142900	143400	109000	609800
8	Fujian	44800	90400	68000	86800	78000	368000
9	Zhejiang	38800	85400	77000	77000	60000	338200
10	Hubei	26400	42700	49700	43700	41100	203600
11	Sichuan	14000	50400	33800	40900	32300	171400
12	Henan	10400	36200	37800	44600	13800	142800
13	Chongqing	10000	22500	35000	22500	25000	115000
14	Jilin	16000	28000	28000	16000	24000	112000
15	Anhui	9600	18900	18900	18900	16200	82500
16	Shaanxi	9200	8400	18400	22400	7200	65600
17	Hunan	11200	7000	14200	19600	6000	58000
18	Jiangxi	6000	10500	10500	10500	9000	46500
19	Heilongjiang	1600	0	5600	5600	4800	17600
20	Shanghai	0	0	0	0	0	0
21	Inner Mongolia	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	Xinjiang	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	Shanxi	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	1051610	1975980	2031180	1896080	1467640	8422490
Remarks: Above is the final data after verification.

 

II. Soybean imports in China

 

China imported 9,586,500 tonnes of soybean in November, an increase of 898,100 tonnes or 10.34% from 8,688,400 tonnes in October and an increase of 1,306,300 tonnes or 15.78% from 8,280,200 tonnes in November 2019, data by China’s Customs showed. In January-November 2020, soybean imports totaled 92,803,300 tonnes in China, up 13,833,500 tonnes or 17.52% from 78,969,800 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	868.84
Nov	827.76	958.65
Dec	954.24	932.80
Total	8858.92	10213.09
Note: Dec 2020 imports are based on data by Cofeed.

 

China brought in 2,743,100 tonnes of soybeans from Brazil in November, down 1,490,000 tonnes or 35.2% from 4,233,100 tonnes in the previous month, and down 1,116,100 tonnes or 28.92% from 3,859,200 tonnes a year earlier. China’s soybean imports from Brazil totaled 63,100,500 tonnes in January-November 2020, up 10,257,500 tonnes or 19.41% from 52,843,000 tonnes in the same period last year.

 

China imported 6,041,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans in November, up 2,641,500 tonnes or 77.7% from 3,399,500 tonnes in the previous month and up 3,484,900 tonnes or 136.34% versus 2,556,100 tonnes in November 2019. China’s soybean imports from the U.S. totaled 20,051,400 tonnes in January-November 2020, up 6,200,800 tonnes or 44.77% from 13,850,600 tonnes in the same period last year.

 

Soybean arrivals at domestic ports are 142 vessels totaling 9.328 mln tonnes in December, according to the survey by Cofeed. Soybean arrivals are forecast to be 124 vessels or 8.156 mln tonnes in January 2021, 6.30 mln tonnes in February 2021, 6.50 mln tonnes in March 2021 and 8.10 mln tonnes in April 2021. Statistics will be revised on account of variable and unstable buying.

 

III. Carryover soybean stocks in China

 

China’s soybean stocks continue falling in December as soybean crush still maintains a fairly high level. By the end of this month, imported soybean stocks in China totaled 6,214,400 tonnes, down 222,500 tonnes or 3.45% from 6,436,900 tonnes in November yet up by 19.46% from 5,202,000 tonnes of the same period last year. Domestic soybean stocks usually go down 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. December Soybean Crush Margins in China

 

Soybean Crush Margins in China (CNY/tonne)
Date	U.S. soybean	Brz. soybean	Arg. soybean	Distributed	Domestic
12/1/2020	10	-71	105	-304	-565
12/2/2020	22	-72	101	-341	-578
12/3/2020	76	-15	156	-313	-574
12/4/2020	38	182	108	-208	-578
12/7/2020	63	139	208	-207	-563
12/8/2020	75	203	120	-227	-579
12/9/2020	90	217	130	-250	-584
12/10/2020	62	190	109	-237	-581
12/11/2020	74	202	118	-240	-587
12/14/2020	83	213	126	-213	-573
12/15/2020	41	171	83	-224	-584
12/16/2020	53	184	99	-178	-530
12/17/2020	78	209	125	-155	-517
12/18/2020	87	218	137	-106	-469
12/21/2020	120	218	137	-113	-390
12/22/2020	35	137	51	-135	-387
12/23/2020	29	135	67	-124	-371
12/24/2020	48	159	92	-87	-336
12/25/2020	32	131	75	-99	-346
12/29/2020	89	185	152	-69	-352
12/30/2020	72	191	81	-161	-494
12/31/2020	120	249	145	-100	-418