NOPA September U.S. soybean crush seen at 161.627 million bushels

By Karl Plume

CHICAGO, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. soybean crush in September likely reached an all-time high for the ninth month of the year as processors ramped up operations with the arrival of newly harvested beans, analysts said ahead of a monthly National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) report due on Monday.

NOPA members, which handle about 95% of all soybeans processed in the United States, were estimated to have crushed 161.627 million bushels of soybeans last month, according to the average of estimates from eight analysts.

If realized, the monthly crush would be down 2.4% from the 165.538 million bushels processed by NOPA members in August but up 5.1% from the September 2021 crush of 153.800 million bushels. It would also be the largest September crush on record, just ahead of the September 2020 crush of 161.491 million bushels.

The September estimate implied a daily processing rate of 5.388 million bushels, which would be up from an 11-month low of 5.340 million bushels a day in August.

Estimates for the September 2022 crush ranged from 152.000 million to 170.400 million bushels, with a median of 162.108 million bushels.

The monthly NOPA report is scheduled for release at 11 a.m. CDT (1600 GMT) on Monday. NOPA releases crush data on the 15th of each month, or the next business day.

Soyoil supplies held by NOPA members as of Sept. 30 were projected to have dropped to 1.522 billion pounds, a 23-montdh low, according to the average of estimates gathered from six analysts.

If realized, the soyoil stocks would be down 2.7% from 1.565 billion pounds at the end of August and down 9.6% from the 1.684 billion pounds held by NOPA members at the end of September last year.

Soyoil stocks estimates ranged from 1.475 billion to 1.600 billion pounds, with a median of 1.511 billion pounds. (Reporting by Karl ; editing by Jonathan Oatis;)