WASHINGTON, Aug. 30: The U.S. Department of Agriculture is to release its monthly oilseed processing report at 2 p.m. CST on Thursday. Analysts expected the report to show that U.S. soybean crush rose nearly 4 percent in July from a month earlier, according to a survey.

The average forecast of eight analysts participating in the survey predicts that the U.S. soybean crush may reach 5.416 million short tons in July 2022, equivalent to 180.5 million bushels. If the forecast turns out, it would be an 8.54% increase from last July’s 166.3 million bushels, the second highest on record for the same period, and nearly down from July 2020’s 184.5 million bushels.

The July crush is expected to be 3.68% higher than June’s 174.1 million bushels. U.S. soybean crush hit a nine-month low in June.

Analysts’ forecast range was between 179 million bushels and 181.7 million bushels, with a median of 180.5 million bushels.

According to data released by the National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA), its members crushed 170.22 million bushels of soybeans in July, up 3.4 percent from June and 9.7 percent from July 2021.

In its August supply and demand report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast U.S. soybean crush in 2021/22 at 2.205 billion bushels, the same as last month’s forecast and a 3.0 percent increase from the previous year. The 2022/23 soybean crush is forecast at 2.245 billion bushels, unchanged from last month’s forecast.