China soybean crush plunges to 6-mth low, stocks jump

China's weekly soybean crush volume slumped to its lowest level since early April as operation rates dropped sharply amid an eight-day national holiday but soybean stocks rebounded significantly on steady vessel landing pace.

Total crush volume across the country fell to 1.39 million mt last week, down 480,000 mt from the previous week, but was 100,000 mt above the same week last year, according to China’s National Grain and Oil Information Centre (CNGOIC) on Thursday.

However, the lower crush meant soybean stocks increased by 310,000 mt to hit 6.8 million mt last week.

“Main crushers soybean crush volumes fell significantly during the national holiday and soybean stocks stopped falling and started rising,” said CNGOIC.

Soymeal stocks slid during the holiday to 960,000 mt as of the end of last week, down 20,000 mt from the week before.

In contrast, soyoil stocks bounced 10,000 mt up to 1.36 million mt last week.