Soybeans from field to crush to the chicken on your plate

By Alykhan Virani. Published 2026-10-11.

Part 11 of the series From source to store.

In the 2024/25 marketing year the world’s crushing plants processed 359.2 million tonnes of soybeans, equal to 83.9% of the 428.1 million tonnes produced, and returned 281.8 million tonnes of meal and 70.1 million tonnes of oil (USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, October 2026; marketing years differ by country: October to September for most, September to August for the United States, January to December for Paraguay). Poultry took 21.7 million of the 35.8 million tonnes of US soybean meal used in 2024/25, 60.7% (American Soybean Association, Soy Stats 2026, from United Soybean Board assessments); a 2019 NOPA chart put it at 55.4% of 33.4 million tonnes and said about 97% of US meal went to animal feed, and the two use different methods. The site tracks soybeans (HS 1201) and chicken but has no page for soybean meal or oil, so meal (HS 2304) and oil (HS 1507) trade figures come from tables inside the soybean data, with each HS code scope stated. “Soybeans” means whole beans unless the text says meal or oil.

How it is grown

In 2024 Brazil grew 144.5 million tonnes, 36.3% of the world’s 397.7 million tonnes, the United States 118.8 million (29.9%) and Argentina 48.2 million (12.1%), together 78.3% (FAOSTAT calendar-year harvests, which differ from USDA’s marketing-year totals above).

The harvest calendar, built on USDA crop calendars, has the United States sowing in May and June and harvesting from September to November, Brazil sowing from September to December and harvesting from January to April, and Argentina sowing from October to December and harvesting from March to June.

Most of the growth came from added land. World harvested area averaged 138.6 million hectares in 2022 to 2024, up 24.5% on 2012 to 2014, while yield rose 9.4% to 2.70 tonnes per hectare; Brazil’s area grew 58.0% and the United States’ 8.3% (FAOSTAT three-year averages).

Soybeans share fields with a second crop. Second-season corn, called safrinha, is planted from January to March, typically after the soybean harvest, and was estimated at 79% of Brazil’s 2025/26 corn; the same report said soybean harvest delays in several Center-West states had hindered corn planting (USDA FAS GAIN BR2026-0015, Grain and Feed Annual, 6 April 2026).

From field to crush

Soybeans trade at 13% moisture, which suits cool-weather storage, while beans held through winter into summer should be near 11% (NDSU Extension, via University of Nebraska-Lincoln CropWatch, 2018). U.S. No. 1 allows at most 2.0% damaged kernels, 1.0% foreign material and 10.0% splits, and U.S. No. 2 allows 3.0%, 2.0% and 20.0% (7 CFR 810.1604). See grade and moisture content.

Crushing splits the bean. A Purdue University fact sheet (1998) gave an average 27.2-kilogram (60-pound) bushel 5.0 kilograms (11 pounds) of oil and 21.8 kilograms (48 pounds) of meal at 44% protein. The 2024/25 world totals above work out to 78.4% meal and 19.5% oil by weight of beans crushed (calculated from USDA FAS).

China crushed 103.5 million tonnes in 2024/25, 28.8% of the world total, ahead of the United States at 66.5 million (18.5%), Brazil at 58.2 million (16.2%) and Argentina at 43.2 million (12.0%) (USDA FAS). Processing and exporting rank differently: in 2024 Argentina sold 4.5 million tonnes of beans abroad but 22.4 million tonnes of meal and 5.8 million tonnes of oil (CEPII BACI, HS 1201, 2304 and 1507). The crush margin is a plant’s earnings from oil and meal above bean cost.

Moving it

In 2024 the world exported 172.5 million tonnes of soybeans worth $80.5 billion; Brazil supplied 98.9 million tonnes (57.4%) and the United States 45.7 million (26.5%) (CEPII BACI, HS 1201).

In 2022 barges carried 48% of US soybean exports to export ports, rail 38% and trucks 14%, while in Brazil in 2023 trucks carried 54%, rail 33% and barges 12% (USDA AMS, Brazil Soybean Transportation, third quarter 2024). Of Brazil’s 108.2 million tonnes exported in 2025, 36.2% left through the northern “Arco Norte” ports, 32% through Santos and 13.4% through Paranaguá (Revista Cultivar, 26 May 2026, in an article based on Conab’s 2026 logistics yearbook).

Argentina’s crushing is concentrated on the Paraná River. The Up-River terminals around Rosario shipped 75.7 million tonnes of grain, oil and meal in 2025, against 74.8 million at New Orleans and 60 million at Santos, and their 40.9 million tonnes of soy products ranked second to Santos (Rosario Board of Trade, reported by iProfesional, 29 May 2026).

China imported 102.8 million tonnes in 2024, 59.6% of world soybean trade by weight (CEPII BACI, HS 1201). Brazil sold $31.5 billion to China, 73.0% of its soybean export value; the United States, $12.6 billion, 50.9%. The trade flows report shows every corridor.

The Pink Sheet’s soybean series is CIF Rotterdam, including freight and insurance, while USDA’s charted export prices are FOB at the US Gulf, Argentina’s Up River and Paranaguá, excluding them (see FOB, CIF and Incoterms).

From meal to chicken

USDA’s Economic Research Service says soybean meal is the preferred feed ingredient, largely in poultry and swine rations, for its higher protein content and balanced amino acid profile (Oil Crops Outlook, August 2026, on global meal use). Feedipedia, a feed database linked to FAO, reports that approximately 66% of the protein in US broiler feeds comes from soybean meal (undated, citing Dozier and Hess, 2011). US broilers reached 2.98 kilograms (6.57 pounds) of live weight in 47.4 days in 2024 on 1.69 kilograms of feed per kilogram of live weight (National Chicken Council, using USDA and other data).

FAOSTAT counts 127.9 million tonnes of chicken meat produced in 2024, led by the United States at 20.2 million tonnes (15.8%), China at 15.4 million (12.0%) and Brazil at 13.7 million (10.7%). Trade is recorded under HS 0207, all poultry meat including turkey and duck: the world exported 17.3 million tonnes worth $35.8 billion in 2024, with Brazil at $9.2 billion (25.9% of value), the United States at $4.7 billion and Poland at $4.6 billion (CEPII BACI). Brazil and the United States ranked first and second in both 2024 soybean production (FAOSTAT) and 2024 poultry-meat exports by value (CEPII BACI, HS 0207); the data show the overlap, not its cause.

What does it cost?

The Pink Sheet priced US soybeans (CIF Rotterdam) at $524 a tonne in September 2026, Argentine 45 to 46% meal (CIF Rotterdam) at $447 and Dutch soybean oil (FOB ex-mill) at $1,615, up 29.7%, 24.9% and 39.3% on a year earlier. Soybean oil also feeds fuel plants: USDA ERS put soybean oil use in US biofuel production at 14.8 billion pounds (6.71 million tonnes) in 2025/26, and EIA data showed soybean oil at about 40% of feedstocks used for biomass-based diesel in June 2026 (Oil Crops Outlook, September 2026).

For chicken, ERS says broilers have no farm price: most are raised under contract, and the integrator supplies the birds and pays growers a per-unit fee for the birds they produce (ERS Meat Price Spreads documentation, updated 7 May 2026).

Where the chain is thin

Policy items below are as reported by 11 October 2026.

What happens when one buyer takes most of the beans?

China took 60.3% of world soybean imports in 2024/25, 108.0 of 179.1 million tonnes (USDA FAS). After Argentina announced a pause in export taxes on 22 September 2025, over 98% of the 2.7 million tonnes of soybean sales declared on 24 September went to China, according to industry sources cited by USDA; the $7 billion cap on tax-free sales was reached in about 72 hours and taxes returned on 25 September 2025 (GAIN AR2025-0020). USDA’s October 2026 table separately puts US soybean exports at 41.2 million tonnes in 2025/26 (an estimate) against 51.5 million in 2024/25, a 19.9% fall, with no reason given.

How do rivers and ports limit the flow?

In February 2026 the Coast Guard advised southbound barges between mile markers 869 and 585 to load no deeper than 3.2 meters (10 feet 6 inches) and tows to be no more than six wide (bulletin 26-07, 8 February 2026). A Coast Guard advisory starting 7 September 2026 set southbound drafts at 3.5 meters (11 feet 6 inches) from mile 953 to 585 (USACE Mississippi Valley Division, 3 September 2026). On 9 October 2026 American Commercial Barge Line’s notice listed no draft reduction from the Gulf to Cairo, Illinois, and a 13% tow-size cut pending horsepower classification. In Brazil’s north, drought from mid-August to early October 2024 cut barge loads and shipment frequency (USDA AMS, third quarter 2024).

Which trade rules changed, and when?

Decree 526/2025, published 31 July 2025, cut Argentina’s soybean export tax from 33% to 26% and its soy by-products tax from 31% to 24.5% (USDA FAS GAIN AR2025-0012), and Decree 877/2025 of 12 December 2025 cut them to 24% and 22.5%. Decree 423/2026, published 3 June 2026, set the soybean tax at 24% through 2026, 21% in December 2027 and 15% in December 2028 (Boletín Oficial; Becar Varela summary).

On 1 November 2025 the White House said China would buy at least 12 million tonnes of US soybeans in the last two months of 2025 and at least 25 million tonnes in each of 2026, 2027 and 2028 (White House fact sheet). China’s tariff on US soybeans was 13% in May 2026, 3% most-favored-nation plus a 10% levy on US imports (Reuters, 12 May 2026). The Kuala Lumpur trade arrangement, due to lapse on 10 November 2026, was extended through 10 January 2027 after the 24 to 25 September 2026 Washington summit (MOFCOM, 28 September 2026); negotiators announced no new agricultural purchase commitments, and soybeans were left off the tariff-reduction list announced that day (DTN, 28 September 2026).

Which deforestation rules reach soybeans?

Brazil’s Amazon Soy Moratorium began in 2006 as a voluntary pledge not to buy soy from Amazon land cleared after July 2008. Major traders withdrew in January 2026 after top soybean states passed laws removing tax benefits from participants, and Brazil’s Supreme Court upheld those laws on 12 August 2026 (Associated Press, 12 August 2026).

EU Regulation 2023/1115 covers soya under HS 1201 90 00 (beans other than for sowing), 1208 10, 1507 and 2304 (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2102, in force 18 September 2026) and defines deforestation-free by a cut-off of 31 December 2020. Regulation (EU) 2025/2650 set 30 December 2026 for large and medium operators and 30 June 2027 for micro and small operators established as such by 31 December 2024 (EUR-Lex). The EU imported 20.6 million tonnes of meal in 2024/25, 26.5% of world meal imports (USDA FAS).

Follow the data

• The soybeans commodity page, chicken page and soybean price history carry the tables behind this post.
• The trade flows report lists the largest corridors, and the harvest calendar shows harvest months. Country pages cover Brazil, the United States, Argentina and China.
• See producing, exporting and processing, vegetable oil prices, stocks-to-use and tariff.

Prices are monthly averages and nothing here is investment advice.

Prices are monthly benchmark averages that lag the market; informational only, not investment advice.