# China's soybean demand likely to remain soft until May amid poor crush margins

> China's soybean demand is expected to stay soft until at least May, with April open demand seen down 20% to 8 million mt and May down 10% to 9 million mt, according to market sources. Poor crush margins are driven by an oversupply of soybean meal after strong early-year imports, and weak hog demand compounds the problem.

- Date: 2023-04-05 · published 2023-04-05T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: trade · region China · magnitude medium
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/36386-china-s-soybean-demand-likely-to-remain-soft-until-may-amid-poor-crush-margins
- Commodities: [Soybeans](https://feedsoft.ai/c/SOY.md), [Soybean Meal](https://feedsoft.ai/c/SBM.md)

## Why it matters

Lower Chinese import demand weighs on soybean and soybean meal prices, and reduced meal use in feed signals softer protein demand for feed buyers.

## Read by commodity

- SBM: bearish ▼
- SOY: bearish ▼

## Similar past events

| Commodity | Date | Event | 5-day % | 20-day % |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| SOY | 2021-03-24 | [Weak crush margins likely to keep China's soybean demand low until May: sources \| S&P Global](https://feedsoft.ai/events/48203-weak-crush-margins-likely-to-keep-china-s-soybean-demand-low-until-may-sources.md) | -4.0% | +5.2% |
| SOY | 2022-08-08 | [China's July Soybean Imports Slide Amid Poor Crush Margins, Weaker Demand \| Checkout](https://feedsoft.ai/events/14910-china-s-july-soybean-imports-slide-amid-poor-crush-margins-weaker-demand.md) | +3.4% | -6.5% |
| SOY | 2021-02-03 | [China washes out soybean, vegoil cargoes amid poor margins - Fastmarkets](https://feedsoft.ai/events/48721-china-washes-out-soybean-vegoil-cargoes-amid-poor-margins-fastmarkets.md) | +3.5% | +4.1% |
| SOY | 2020-11-23 | [China crushers wash out US soybeans amid tight margins: trade - Fastmarkets](https://feedsoft.ai/events/50234-china-crushers-wash-out-us-soybeans-amid-tight-margins-trade-fastmarkets.md) | -1.1% | +5.3% |
| SOY | 2018-08-20 | [China’s soybean crush margin weakens - McKeany-Flavell](https://feedsoft.ai/events/63602-china-s-soybean-crush-margin-weakens-mckeany-flavell.md) | -4.5% | -6.6% |
| SBM | 2021-03-24 | [Weak crush margins likely to keep China's soybean demand low until May: sources \| S&P Global](https://feedsoft.ai/events/48203-weak-crush-margins-likely-to-keep-china-s-soybean-demand-low-until-may-sources.md) | -0.5% | +2.5% |
| SBM | 2022-08-08 | [China's July Soybean Imports Slide Amid Poor Crush Margins, Weaker Demand \| Checkout](https://feedsoft.ai/events/14910-china-s-july-soybean-imports-slide-amid-poor-crush-margins-weaker-demand.md) | +3.3% | -9.4% |
| SBM | 2022-08-23 | [Brazilian FOB soybean oil prices likely to remain at unusual discount to Argentina’s FOB - Fastmarkets](https://feedsoft.ai/events/40123-brazilian-fob-soybean-oil-prices-likely-to-remain-at-unusual-discount-to.md) | +2.8% | -3.5% |

## Sources

- spglobal.com: https://www.spglobal.com/commodity-insights/en/news-research/latest-news/agriculture/040523-chinas-soybean-demand-likely-to-remain-soft-until-may-amid-poor-crush-margins

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Data from Feedsoft AI (https://feedsoft.ai/). For information only; not investment advice.