US soy crush seen down in April

The soy crush rate in the National Oilseed Processors Association's (NOPA) monthly report for April is expected to drop from the previous month, coming in near 135.8 million bushels, according to industry analysts.

The daily soy crush rate in April was down from March, as one less day of crushing and seasonal down-time in the industry translated into a smaller month-over-month crush.

Analysts noted that the industry usually experiences an 8-10 million bushel drop in monthly crushing totals from March to April.

NOPA's report on the April soy crush is scheduled to be released Friday at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT). Estimates for the report ranged from as low as 132 million bushels to as high as 138.5 million bushels. In March, the crush was measured at 149.6 million bushels. The NOPA report includes figures only from member processors.

A drop in crush margins in the cash market harmed the profitability of processors, enticing crushers to scale down operations, particularly with increased soy product export competition from South America.

The slow down of the US soymeal export programme was a key factor in the decline of crushing operations, said analysts, noting that there was a 400,000-tonne drop off in US soymeal exports in April from March.

Meanwhile, NOPA soyoil stocks in April were expected to rise to 2.792 billion pounds from 2.738 billion pounds in March. Estimates ranged from as low as 2.641 billion pounds to as high as 2.900 billion pounds.

Despite the lower crush rate in April, soyoil stocks continued to grow. Analysts said processors are still crushing for meal and with demand from the biodiesel industry anemic in the absence of the US$1 a gallon blender's tax credit, soyoil off-take has slowed.