One of China's top 2 soybean crushers reported a rebound in profits during 2025 despite the trade war that choked off imports of U.S. soybeans for most of the year. However, the profit report belies a gloomy outlook for China's crushing industry as it awaits another deluge of Brazilian soybeans this Spring.
Arawana Holdings Co. Ltd. (known in China as Yihai Kerry) reported a 26% increase in profits in a preliminary report of its 2025 financial performance. Arawana cited improved soybean crushing margins due to strong downstream demand for its soybean meal products and reduced soybean costs during the first 3 quarters of 2025. The report said strong demand for soybean meal was driven by its high cost-effectiveness in feed formulations (thus undermining agricultural officials' plans to eliminate soybean meal from feed formulations). Margins were also aided by ample South American supplies that drove down soybean prices and lowered raw material costs. The report said procurement costs rebounded during the fourth quarter of 2025, but the soybean crushing margin was still better than in the previous year.
Arawana/Yihai Kerry is a subsidiary of Singapore-based Willmar and is listed on China's Shenzhen stock exchange. Other top soybean crushers are State-owned COFCO and Sinograin.
According to Arawana's 2024 annual report, the company spent RMB 80.4 billion on purchases of soybeans. Last year's semi-annual report said the company purchased 7 million metric tons of soybeans in the first half of 2025, but data for the full year have not been released. Also a top player in China's flour and rice markets, Arawana reduced procurement costs for wheat and rice last year -- another factor boosting the company's profit margin. A new processing facility expanded the company's sales of rice products. The company is also setting aside funds for a pair of potentially costly legal battles involving contract fraud and tax dodging.
Digging deeper in the report reveals that the improvement in profits looks better than it really is because it comes on the heels of poor performance during 2024. A commentary on Arawana's semi-annual report last year noted that the company's capacity utilization for its oilseed crushing and edible oil refining facilities is under 50%. The company has postponed fund-raising for a new crushing plant and an oil refining facility.
An article on the top 30 edible oil brands last year had a less optimistic outlook, warning that the resilience, risk resistance, and strategic vision of major edible oil brands would be put to the test in the face of challenges such as global supply chain restructuring, raw material price fluctuations, and market weakness. Arawana's own reports cite heated competition within the industry.
Several sources have shown negative crushing margins since August 2025. Crushing margins posted on a Chinese feed industry web site for this week range from RMB -346 per ton in Dalian to RMB -429 per ton in Jiangsu Province for processing imported soybeans that cost RMB 4220 per metric ton.
National data support Arawana's claim that soybean procurement expenses decreased as the industry as a whole imported an increased volume of soybeans at lower cost than in 2024. The National Bureau of Statistics Statistical Communique showed that the volume of soybeans imported by China increased by 6.5% to 111.8 million metric tons in 2025 while the value of imported soybeans decreased 3.9% to RMB 360.2 billion.
The unit value of imported soybeans calculated from monthly customs data fell from over RMB 4000 per ton in January 2024 and RMB 3500 per ton during mid-2024 to a low of RMB 3126 per ton in June 2025. The value bounced back to RMB 3418 per ton in December 2025. (These values do not include costs of unloading, tariff or value-added tax.)
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| Imported soybeans: value per ton from customs data; soy oil and soymeal monthly average of nearby futures contract prices, Dalian exchange. |
Robust demand for soybean meal from the livestock industry is consistent with national figures showing that pork production went up 4.1% and poultry output went up 6.7% last year. Despite growth in feed demand, crushers produced so much soybean meal that meal prices fell below RMB 3000 for much of 2025. On the other hand, soybean oil prices were up in 2025, contributing to last year's improved soybean crushing margins. However, the oil supply overwhelmed Chinese demand as China became a net exporter of soybean oil for the first time in 2025.
China's soybean crushers are now restarting operations after having been idled during the lunar new year holiday. A Chinese soybean industry analysis this week contrasts strong U.S. soybean crush with a relatively weak China crushing industry. The analysis contrasted a 10.6% year-on-year increase in U.S. crush and crush margins of $3.06 per bushel in the U.S. with widespread losses across the Chinese industry as margins in China are squeezed by weak downstream prices and rising raw material costs.
The Chinese market's supply of imported soybeans is still in a seasonal lull, but a renewed surge of Brazilian soybean arrivals is expected in April-May. The anticipated influx of beans is putting downward pressure on meal and oil price expectations. Because of the supply-related downward pressure on Chinese soybean oil prices, analysts think China's soybean oil prices will be insulated from any knock-on effects from rising petroleum prices due to this week's Iran war and blockage of the Strait of Hormuz.
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