USDA Report Shows Lower-Than-Expected Soybean Crush
The USDA released its monthly fats and oils report after market close on Friday.
The report showed soybean processors crushed 168.24 million bushels of beans in August; July’s crush was revised down to 166.3 million bushels.
The average trade guess was 169 million bushels, with estimates ranging from 168 to 170 million.
It was the largest crush in three months but down from the 174.7 million bushels in August 2020.
The report brings the 2020/21 total crush to 2.14 billion bushels.
FBN’s Take On What It Means: After the stocks report on Thursday, the USDA delivered more bearish news on Friday with the fats and oils report showing a crush below the average of trade estimates. Soybean oil stocks also came in at 2.183 billion pounds, above the expected 2.128 billion. November soybean futures finished down 37.5 cents on the week and 45 cents for the month of September.
India’s Duties Cuts Raise Palm Oil Imports, Not Soybean Oil
India’s palm oil imports more than doubled from a year ago to a record 1.4 million tonnes.
However, soybean oil fell to 250,000 tonnes from 316,000 a year ago.
Overall, vegetable oil imports rose 72% to a record 1.8 million tonnes.
India, the world’s largest vegetable oil importer, lowered taxes last month in an attempt to cool near-record prices.
Crude palm oil saw its tax cut to 2.5% from 10%, while crude soybean oil saw its cut to 2.5% from 7.5%.
FBN’s Take On What It Means: Palm and bean oil continue to hover near recent highs. While the duty seems to be a net negative for bean oil, vegetable oils closely track each other. An increase in demand for one should help lift the rest of the complex.
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