The cash vegetable oil market remained sluggish heading into the second half of October. Soybean oil basis indications were still depressed, particularly for crude-degummed soybean oil in central Illinois.

On Thursday October 10, basis offers for soybean oil, crude-degummed, FOB central Illinois were heard as low as even to the benchmark December soybean oil futures contract in Chicago. Basis bids were talked at a discount of 50 basis points per lb to the underlying contract. This was down from a premium of 50-150 basis points per lb a week earlier.

Many food and fuel buyers have covered their soybean oil positions through the end of this year, with indications for the first quarter of 2025 and later hard to come by, trading sources told Fastmarkets.

“We’re hearing that demand is starting to look bleak. A lot of the fuel guys have gotten themselves buttoned up and are not looking much beyond December,” a market source said.

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