According to Cofeed, on the week as of Mar 19, details of soybean stocks and soybean meal stocks and outstanding contracts in coastal regions are as follows:

Soybean: Soybean stocks continue reducing this week as soybean crush goes up to 1.56 mln tonnes and the volume put into mill stock remains small. In the week as of Mar 19, China’s imported soybean stocks in coastal regions total 4,280,500 tonnes, down 118,200 tonnes by 2.69% from 4,398,700 tonnes last week and up by 77.26% from 2,414,800 tonnes from a year earlier.  

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

Soybean meal: Soybean meal stocks slightly increase this week on higher soybean crush volume and a slow recovery in the demand. In the week as of Mar 19, China’s soybean meal stocks in coastal regions are 745,300 tonnes, up 600 tonnes by 0.08% from 744,700 tonnes last week and also up 69.19% from 440,500 tonnes from a year earlier. Some domestic millers have a plan for downtime periodically in March and April due to negative crush margins and a delay in soybean harvests and shipments in Brazil and there will be a recovery in aquaculture, so soybean meal stocks are expected to continue a reduction.

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

Outstanding contracts: The amount of soybean meal in outstanding contracts continues a decline this week due to tepid trade in the market. In the week as of Mar 19, outstanding contracts in mills in domestic coastal regions hold 3,207,600 tonnes not delivered, down 596,100 tonnes by 15.67% from 3,803,700 tonnes last week and down 3.06% from 3,309,000 tonnes year over year.

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