According to Cofeed, in the week as of Mar 19, details of soybean oil inventories and outstanding contracts in main domestic regions are as follows:

Operation rates see a slight rise in China this week (Mar 13-19). Soybean crush at domestic mills totals 1,568,610 tonnes (meal 1,239,202 tonnes and oil 298,036 tonnes), up 119,910 tonnes or 8.27% from 1,448,700 tonnes last week. Meanwhile, operation rates (capacity utilization) are 44.23%, up 3.38% from 40.85% in the previous week. Soybean crush is expected to be 1.52 mln tonnes next week and 1.62 mln tonnes in week 13.

Soybean oil stocks continue a smaller decline this week, as soybean crush remains low in spite of a rise and the consumption is at a brisk pace. In the week ending Mar 19, China’s soybean oil commercial inventories total 730,800 tonnes, down 17,450 tonnes by 2.33% from 748,250 tonnes last week, down 142,800 tonnes by 16.35% from 873,600 tonnes month on month, and down 661,300 tonnes by 47.5% from 1,392,100 tonnes year on year. And the five-year (2016-2020) average at the same period is 1,188,000 tonnes.

Fig.: China’s Soybean Oil Stocks in Recent Years