To kick off 2024, US soybean oil futures sat below $0.49 per lb in Chicago. Over the course of the year, prices lost about 17% in value to end 2024 just shy of $0.40 per lb — or the cheapest edible oil in the world.

As US soybean oil prices crumbled, palm oil prices gradually surged in 2024.

By August, palm oil — normally the cheapest vegetable oil globally that trades at a discount of $30-40 per tonne to soybean oil — had moved into a sharp premium instead.

Then in October, for the first time since 2022, Argentina’s soyoil basis premiums rose above those in the US, making the US Gulf export market a more attractive option for foreign buyers. This led to a surge in new US soybean oil export sales in the final weeks of 2024.

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