Soybeans: Characteristics
Protein and oil: what a crusher really pays for
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | about 398 Mt (FAOSTAT 2024); 429.2 Mt in 2025/26 and 442.7 Mt forecast for 2026/27 | The Americas grow about four-fifths: Brazil 186 Mt and the US 124 Mt forecast for 2026/27. India grows about 10.5 Mt. | FAOSTAT 2024; USDA WASDE Oct 2026; USDA PSD |
| Inventory and stock levels | world ending stocks 124.9 Mt (2025/26), 28.9% of use, about 105 days | China held 44.4 Mt (35%), partly in Sinograin state reserves; Argentina about 24 Mt; the US 8.6 Mt forecast for 2026/27. India holds no strategic stock; NAFED and NCCF stocks bought at MSP (about 2 Mt in 2024-25) are auctioned back to crushers. | USDA WASDE Oct 2026; USDA PSD; content of this tile |
| Capacity utilisation | not published as a world series | About 87% of world soybean use is crushed (375.8 Mt of 432.3 Mt in 2025/26). Crusher margins, not capacity, usually limit runs: ADM's crushing profit fell 81% in 2025. In India, crushers depend on a 10-11 Mt crop for plants built for more. | USDA WASDE Oct 2026; ADM 2025 results |
| Geographic and producer concentration | top country Brazil 36.3%, top-3 (Brazil, US, Argentina) 78.3%, HHI 2,420 (2024); exports: Brazil 54.3%, top-3 89.4% of value; China 65.3% of import value | The trade is a two-seller, one-buyer market. Bunge (41.0 Mt soybeans processed), Cargill, ADM, LDC and COFCO handle much of the export trade. | FAOSTAT 2024; UN Comtrade 2024; company reports |
| Supply elasticity | short-run moderate (one season; a second harvest in South America six months later); long-run high via Brazilian land expansion | Brazil and the US can add or shift millions of hectares in a year, and two hemispheres give two harvests a year. Long-run supply grew by clearing Cerrado land, which is now limited by the EU deforestation rules and the Amazon Soy Moratorium. | USDA; Conab |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | Brazil area 47.35 Mha in 2024/25 and still rising; world output forecast up 3% to 442.7 Mt in 2026/27 | SLC Agricola alone planted about 425 kha in 2025/26. Crush capacity has expanded in the US for renewable diesel feedstock and in Brazil and Argentina, but plant-level figures are not in the sources used. | Conab; SLC Agricola; USDA PSD |
| Logistics and export flows | Brazil shipped 108.7 Mt in 2025; beans plus meal and oil make soy the most traded farm product by value ($79 bn for beans, 2024) | Routes: Mato Grosso by truck and barge to Santos, Paranagua and northern Arc ports, then Panamax ships (85.6% of Brazil's loadings) to China; US Gulf via the Mississippi and the Panama Canal; Pacific Northwest to Asia. Chokepoints: BR-163 roads, low water on the Mississippi, Panama Canal drought limits. | Cargonave; Banchero Costa; UN Comtrade 2024 |
Material characteristics Agricultural / soft commodity
Soybeans are worth their protein and oil. A crusher earns from about 0.78 t of meal and 0.20 t of oil per tonne, so protein and oil content set the crush margin. Moisture, splits and damage decide grade. GM status matters for some buyers: India's non-GM meal can earn a premium.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protein content | about 34-38% as-is (about 40% dry basis); meal sold as 44% or 46-48% hi-pro | Feed buyers pay by protein; low-protein beans make lower-grade meal | US Soybean Export Council; trade specs (indicative) |
| Oil content | about 18-20% | Sets oil yield, about 0.20 t per t crushed (world average) | USDA WASDE ratios |
| Moisture | at most 14% for US No. 2; about 13% for safe storage | Wet beans heat in storage and are discounted | USDA FGIS US Standards for Soybeans |
| Foreign material | at most 2.0% for US No. 2 | Cleaning costs and lost crush yield | USDA FGIS |
| Splits and damaged kernels | splits at most 20%, total damage at most 3.0% for US No. 2 | Damaged beans raise free fatty acids in oil and lower meal quality | USDA FGIS |
| GM status | GM in the Americas; India grows only non-GM | Non-GM and identity-preserved meal earns premiums in parts of Europe and Asia | content of this tile |