Operation rates decline as expected in China this week (Mar 20-26). Soybean crush at domestic mills totals 1,563,980 tonnes (meal 1,235,544 tonnes and oil 297,156 tonnes), down 4,630 tonnes or 0.30% from 1,568,610 tonnes last week. Meanwhile, operation rates (capacity utilization) are 44.10%, down 0.13% from 44.23% in the previous week. Soybean crush is expected to be 1.58 mln tonnes next week and 1.68 mln tonnes in week 14.

Soybean crush nationwide is estimated at 6.91 mln tonnes in March at current utilization rate, against the 4.682 mln tonnes in the previous month and 6.5783 mln tonnes a year earlier.

In the crop year of 2020/21 (from Oct 1st, 2020), China’s soybean crush totals 44,639,934 tonnes, up 4,620,234 tonnes or 11.54% from 40,019,700 tonnes a year earlier.

In the calendar year of 2021 (from Jan. 1st, 2021), China’s soybean crush amounts to 19,148,996 tonnes, up 1,162,939 tonnes or 6.47% from 17,986,057 tonnes of the corresponding period in 2020.

Fig.: Soybean Weekly Crush in China (2016-2020)

Details for weekly crush by region are shown as follows: