With cash trading for vegetable oils still incredibly quiet, basis indications on soybean oil in central Illinois and in the Gulf continue to wallow near, or at, yearly lows. Renewable diesel and biodiesel demand remains sharply reduced. In addition, food buyers have not been engaged in the spot soybean oil market, many sources have said.

Participants have been trying to gauge soybean oil use as a feedstock for the first half of 2024, especially from the biofuels side. However, the outlook remains murky, at best. On the one hand, U.S. biodiesel production could fall sharply in the first quarter of 2024, should the poor margins spill into the new year. This remains a real possibility amid weak heating oil futures and stagnating renewable identification number (RIN) prices. 

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