The slump in organic soybean meal imports has left consumers with either low protein Chinese meal or U.S. domestic organic soybean meal. With the harvest kicking in, new domestic beans can be crushed, creating some supply. The Chinese organic soybean meal has been riddled with issues and has a lower protein content than Indian soybean meal. Due to tariffs, China has not been a contributing importer of organic soybean meal since 2019. In 2015,2016, 2017, and 2018, China imported approximately 48k, 70K, 41K, and 40K metric tons of organic soybean meal to the United States. In 2019, these figures dropped to 4K metric tons.  In 2020, the Chinese exported less than 1K of organic soybean meal to the U.S.

Despite the potential hair on this beast, it might be the only game in town in Q2. One merchandiser said, “Chinese organic soybean meal might look like gold in a few weeks.”

Additionally, shipping costs from China surged into September, rising above 20K per FCL. Today,…