Soybean Prices Declined amid China’s Easing Demand

On Friday, soybean prices traded lower as demand from world’s top importer China is projected to plunge amid poor crush margin.

At the time of writing, CBOT soy contract for May delivery declined by 1.16% to $1,493.50 per metric ton.

The fall is attributed to market forecasted decline in Chinese demand until next month. It is due to weak crush margins and reduced soybean meal use in animal feed.

In April, the nation’s open soybean demand plummeted by 20% to 8 million metric tons. Meanwhile, it is projected to further ease by 10% to 9 million metric tons in May.

Earlier in the year, the commodity’s oversupply led to high stockpiles that weighed heavily on crush margins.

Between January 01 and February 28, Beijing imported 16.71 mmt of soybeans, up by 16% YoY.

According to crushers, the higher than expected raw bean imports during that period resulted in soybean meal overproduction. It is driven by a sudden spike in soy demand after the easing of coronavirus curbs.

Usually, the country imports 95 million to 97 million mt of raw soybeans per year. Also, it processes more than 80% into protein-rich soy meal-based animal feed.

Yet, the market’s outlook for Chinese soybean meal consumption is weak until the second half of this year.

Nebraska Soybean Board’s latest announcement

Meanwhile, the Nebraska Soybean Board announced on Friday that it will match up to $10,000 for chosen locations. These will partake in the recently-posted Dustlock Matching Program.

The board hopes that this program will raise Dustlock use, which is a soybean-based product made to improve dust control.

Besides, NSB anticipated to get applications from fairground, grain processing areas, feed mixing regions, and community development activities.

Moreover, the application will end on April 28. Following NSB and Dustlock-Matching Program’s review, selected requests will be sprayed this year’s summer.