U.S. soybean processing slowed in April from a record crush the previous month due to narrowing margins and seasonal downtime at processing plants, analysts said ahead of a National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) monthly report on Wednesday.
NOPA members, who handle 95% of all U.S.-processed soybeans, were projected to have crushed 183.072 million bushels last month, according to 10 analysts polled by Reuters.
That would mark a 6.8% decrease from the record 196.406 million bushels crushed in March and would be the smallest monthly crush since September. But it would be up 5.7% from the April 2023 crush of 173.232 million bushels, and the largest April crush on record.
U.S. soybean processors have expanded capacity and built new plants over the past several years to capitalize on rising vegetable oil demand from renewable fuels makers. But a recent downturn in demand, as biofuel producers turned to cheaper alternatives like imported used cooking oil, eroded crush margins.
The Biden administration on Tuesday raised tariffs on some Chinese imports, but used cooking oil was not among the products targeted despite recent market rumors.
“NOPA was not proactively pushing for tariffs,” NOPA CEO Kailee Tkacz Buller said in an emailed statement.
NOPA is concerned about used cooking oil imports and exploring “workable solutions that can address the impact on our domestic market,” she said, but did not provide details.
April crush estimates ranged from 173.980 million to 191.000 million bushels, with a median of 184.100 million bushels. The NOPA report is scheduled for release at 11 a.m. CDT (1600 GMT) on Wednesday. Soyoil supplies held by NOPA members as of April 30 were forecast at 1.882 billion lbs, based on estimates from seven analysts. That would be up 1.7% from 1.851 billion at the end of March but down 3.9% from the 1.957 billion lbs at the end of April 2023. Stocks estimates ranged from 1.800 billion to 1.975 billion lbs, with a median of 1.885 billion lbs.