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Strong Soybean Crush in China during H1 2026

China crushed 47.8 million metric tons of imported soybeans during the first 6 months of 2026, up 6.4% from the same period last year. The year-over-year growth in crush outpaced the 1.5% growth in China's imports of soybeans which totaled 50.15 mmt for H1 2026. 

China Customs; MySteel; China Feed Industry Association.

The rapid growth in crush also outpaced 3.9% year-over-year growth in industrial feed output during H1 2026. Official data showed that China's meat output was up 4.3% year-over-year during H1 2026, including 3.3% growth in pork and 9.4% growth in poultry meat. Growth in crush was bolstered by addition of new capacity and ample raw material supplies reflecting shipments from Brazil's record-breaking crop this year. Crushers are processing the Brazilian beans as soon as they arrive because their high moisture content makes them difficult to store. 

Ten of China's 14 regions posted growth in crushing volume, including double-digit growth in inland provinces of Henan (+43.5%), Yunnan (+38.1%), the Northeastern Provinces (+14.8%), Sichuan-Chongqing (+14.7%), and Guangxi (+11.5%). Shaanxi Province saw the largest decline in crush volume this year (-10.7%) due to negative margins, and Fujian (-9.5%) crushers switched to rapeseed. Guangdong crush volume was down slightly (-0.25%). 

Soybean imports arriving during June 2026 reached a high for the month of 13.547 mmt. Monthly crush volume was 9.95 mmt in June 2026. That exceeded the monthly average of 7.9 mmt for the first six months, but the June total was 1.6% less than the June 2025 total. 

China's Administration of Food and Commodity Reserves reported that crush volume during the final week of July was 2.3 mmt, down 20,000 mt from the previous week and up 70,000 mt from a year earlier. 

China's Feed Trade net estimates soybean crush will be 10.2 to 10.5 mmt in July, slightly ahead of 10.12 mmt a year ago. 


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