USDA Oilseed Crush Report Preview: April soybean crush may fall to 5.26 million tons

WASHINGTON, May 30: The U.S. Department of Agriculture is to release its monthly oilseed processing report on Wednesday. Analysts on average expect U.S. soybean crush to fall to 5.416 million short tons or 180.5 million bushels in April 2022, equivalent to processing 6.017 million bushels per day, the lowest daily volume since September, according to a survey. It has declined for four consecutive months.

If expectations materialize, April’s crush would be lower than March’s 192.9 million bushes, but up from April last year’s 169.8 million bushes, and the second-highest for the same period on record, just below the April 2020 peak for the same period record.

Analysts’ forecasts ranged from 178.5 million bushels to 182.0 million bushels, with a median of 180.5 million bushels.

For comparison, member companies of the National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) crushed 169.788 million bushels of soybeans in April, down 6.6% month-on-month, but up 5.9% year-on-year, setting a second-highest record for the same period in history. NOPA member companies process about 95% of soybeans in the country.

Despite the lucrative crushing, soybean crushing slowed in April due to seasonal maintenance by some manufacturers.

U.S. soybean crush profit was $4.47 a bushel in the week ended April 29, down from $4.81 a month earlier, but still 73.26 percent higher than a year earlier, according to USDA data.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s May supply and demand report forecast U.S. soybean crush at 2.215 billion bushels in 2021/22, unchanged from the April forecast and 3.5% higher than the 2020/21 crush of 2.141 billion bushels. The 2022/23 soybean crush will increase to 2.255 billion bushels.