U.S. Soybean Meal Exports After the Crush Expansion: Markets, Routes, and Competitiveness

Ming Wang, Shawn Arita and Sandro Steinbach

NDSU Agricultural Trade Monitor, 2026, vol. 2026, issue 10

Abstract: The October 2026 NDSU Agricultural Trade Monitor examines how expanding U.S. soybean crushing capacity is changing soybean meal exports, market opportunities, and transportation costs. U.S. meal exports are estimated at 18.6 million metric tons in 2025/26 and are projected at 20.6 million in 2026/27, with the U.S. share of world exports projected at 23 percent. The United States has retained its position in core markets such as the Philippines and Colombia. The European Union, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand offer further opportunities because they import large volumes while purchasing relatively small shares from U.S. suppliers. The report compares competition from Brazil and Argentina and examines transportation costs through the Pacific Northwest and Gulf routes. Lower freight costs through the Pacific Northwest give Plains plants an advantage in serving Asian markets. Thailand’s trade framework with the United States also identifies soybean meal among planned agricultural purchases. Additional crush capacity, supported by soybean oil demand for biofuels, is expected to generate more meal for export. The analysis highlights the importance of overseas demand for new plants in the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas, where local livestock feeding absorbs a small share of potential meal output.

Keywords: Agribusiness; Crop Production/Industries; Demand and Price Analysis; International Relations/Trade; Supply Chain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/415921/files/N ... onitor%202026-10.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:ndsutm:415921

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.415921

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in NDSU Agricultural Trade Monitor from North Dakota State University Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().