The soy crush rate in the National Oilseed Processors Association's monthly soy crush report for March is expected to hold steady with the previous month, coming in near 148.4 million bushels.

The soy crush in March was on par with February, but the daily crush rate was down as March had a few more days of crushing than February, said Dan Basse, president of AgResource Co. in Chicago. The daily crush rate was down, as lower crush margins forced some marginal crushers to scale back operations, Basse added.

NOPA's report on the March soy crush is scheduled to be released Wednesday (Apr 14) at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT).

Estimates for the report ranged from as low as 147.5 million bushels to as high as 149.0 million bushels. In February, the crush was measured at 148.4 million bushels.

The NOPA report includes figures only from member processors.

Slower usage of soymeal for domestic use and meal exports were features that promoted a smaller daily crush, analysts said.

Meanwhile, NOPA soyoil stocks in March were expected to decline to 2.754 billion pounds from 2.852 billion pounds in February. Estimates ranged from as low as 2.637 billion pounds to as high as 2.850 billion pounds. A slower crush on a daily basis served as the catalyst limit the build-up of soyoil stocks, analysts said.