US Treasury Secretary Bessent and Chinese counterparts met in Paris over the weekend to prepare for a meeting later this month between President Trump and President Xi. After the meeting, it was noted that China was open to purchasing more US agricultural products, particularly non-soybean row crops. This has raised some doubts about the additional 8 MMT of soybean purchases for the current marketing year suggested by President Trump last month.

Late on Sunday, President Trump stated that the meeting with China could be delayed. He also said he expects China to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, although Secretary Bessent stated that the two issues are not related.

According to USDA’s FGIS data, soybean export shipments for the week ending March 12 totaled 966,082 MT (34.5 mbu). This was 8.9% higher than the previous week and 45.4% larger than the same week last year. China was the top destination with 545,858 MT, followed by Egypt with 224,944 MT and Mexico with 203,194 MT.

For the 2025/26 marketing year, total soybean exports since September 1 have reached 28.06 MMT (1.031 bbu), which is 28.3% lower than the same period last year.

NOPA reported that its members crushed a record 208.785 mbu of soybeans in February. This was 10.57% higher than a year ago but 1.52% lower than January. The average daily crush was 7.46 mbu, the highest for any month in NOPA’s history.

Soybean oil stocks stood at 2.08 billion pounds, up 38.37% from last year and 9.49% higher from the previous month.

AgRural reported that Brazil’s soybean harvest was 61% complete by Thursday, compared with 70% at the same time last year.