Course 13 of 20 · Agricultural Commodities Desk Academy

Soybeans, Meal, Oil & Crush Economics

Stage C, Merchandising and grain risk. Level 6 of 10.

The crush: board and cash crush calculation, meal and oil yield, processing margin hedging, and the decision to run, slow or idle a plant against that margin.

117 chapters · 11 modules · every chapter one 8 to 10 minute explainer · builds on: Course 10, Course 11, Course 12

Enrol or enquire See the 117 chapters
How a chapter is delivered

One chapter is one idea taken to the point of use

Each chapter covers one idea to the point where you can use it, and comes two ways: a narrated explainer, and a deep dive audio discussion of around thirty minutes that works the same material at depth.

Self-paced throughout, and the same chapters can be taught as a cohort. Chapters run in order: each one assumes only what the chapters before it taught, and capability belonging to a later course is named and deferred rather than half-covered.

Curriculum

11 modules · 117 chapters

Open any module for its full chapter list, in teaching order.

M0 The Soybean Processing Plant as a Commercial Object Ch 1-10
  1. One Bean, Two Products and a Hull
  2. Why the Meal Side Usually Decides the Bean's Price
  3. Co-operative, Merchant and Independent Crusher as Owners
  4. Solvent Extraction and Mechanical Pressing Side by Side
  5. A Plant Converts; a Merchant Only Moves
  6. Three Questions a Crush Desk Settles Each Week
  7. The Denominator the Whole Course Reports In
  8. Cross-Oil Spreads, Rations and Freight Belong Elsewhere
  9. What the Learner Brings From Basis, Hedging and the Grains
  10. The Route From Three Prices to a Run Decision
M1 Meal and Oil Yield From One Bushel Ch 11-20
  1. Oil Content and Protein as the Two Qualities That Pay
  2. Stating the Yield Pair as Pounds Per Bushel
  3. Why the Yield Pair Is Held Fixed Here on Purpose
  4. Hulls, Hull Addback and the Weight That Reappears
  5. Gums and the Degumming Step at the Plant Gate
  6. Hexane Loss and the Consumables a Plant Burns
  7. Moisture in the Bean and the Shrink It Creates
  8. A Worked Yield Calculation on One Illustrative Lot
  9. Why Two Plants Report Different Yields From One Origin
  10. Bean Quality Variation and the Fixed Yield It Breaks
M2 The Listed Crush and Its Three Legs Ch 21-30
  1. The Three Listed Contracts the Board Crush Is Built From
  2. Beans Are Bought, Meal and Oil Are Sold
  3. Converting Meal and Oil Quotations Into One Bushel
  4. A Worked Board Crush From Three Screen Prices
  5. Which Contract Months Belong in One Crush Quotation
  6. The Oil Share of the Crush and What It Signals
  7. The Reverse Crush and Who Puts It On
  8. The Board Crush Curve Across Forward Months
  9. Crush Margins Quoted Outside Chicago
  10. Why the Listed Figure Is an Indicator, Not a Result
M3 The Cash Crush at One Plant Ch 31-41
  1. The Delivered Bean Cost a Plant Actually Pays
  2. Meal Realisation Net of Freight to the Feed Buyer
  3. Degummed Oil Realisation at the Loading Flange
  4. The Variable Conversion Cost a Bushel Carries
  5. The Charges That Continue While the Plant Stands Still
  6. Two Margins a Crush Plant Reports
  7. A Worked Cash Crush, Part One: The Assumptions
  8. A Worked Cash Crush, Part Two: The Answer and Its Sensitivity
  9. Attributing the Gap Between Board and Cash
  10. The Argument That the Board Crush Predicts the Cash Crush
  11. What a Processor Means by Replacement Cost
M4 Run, Slow or Idle Ch 42-53
  1. The Contribution Level Below Which Crushing Destroys Value
  2. Why a Plant Goes On Crushing Below Full Cost
  3. Cutting the Crush Rate Instead of Stopping
  4. What a Full Stop and Restart Actually Costs
  5. The Run Length a Restart Has to Buy
  6. The Meal Delivery Obligation That Forces a Run
  7. The Delivery Peak a Plant Has to Be Open For
  8. The Crush Season as Many Decisions, Taken Separately
  9. Take or Pay Beans, Rail Fleets and Term Meal Sales
  10. Valuing the Right to Stand Down by Averaging Payoffs
  11. Scheduling the Annual Shutdown Against the Forward Crush
  12. One Plant Through a Negative Quarter, Decision by Decision
M5 Buying Beans for a Crush Programme Ch 54-63
  1. Turning a Crush Schedule Into a Dated Bean Requirement
  2. Winning Beans Against the Elevator Next Door
  3. Bidding Above the Neighbourhood to Keep the Extractor Fed
  4. Beans Delivered Now and Priced Later
  5. Buying South American Beans for a Northern Plant
  6. The Overbought Plant and the Beans It Cannot Crush
  7. The Discount Schedule a Crush Plant Publishes
  8. Storing Beans at the Plant Against Crushing Them
  9. Unpriced Beans and the Cover the Plant Still Needs
  10. A Worked Bean Programme Across One Harvest
M6 Selling the Meal Ch 64-74
  1. Who Buys Soybean Meal and Why They Cannot Wait
  2. High Protein Meal and the Hull Blended Grade
  3. Meal Quoted in Short Tons and Sold in Metric Tonnes
  4. Meal Basis Against the Listed Meal Contract
  5. Pellets, Loadout and the Rail Fleet Behind Meal Sales
  6. Term Meal Contracts and the Production They Commit
  7. Meal Exported and the Netback It Returns
  8. What Meal Is Worth to the Animal That Eats It
  9. Corn and Wheat Feed Demand Taken as Given
  10. Meal Inventory and the Reason It Barely Exists
  11. A Worked Meal Sales Month
M7 Selling the Oil Ch 75-85
  1. Crude and Degummed Oil as the Plant's Second Product
  2. Oil Quoted in Pounds and the Cents That Matter
  3. Who Buys Soy Oil at the Plant Gate
  4. Oil Basis and the Tank It Is Delivered Into
  5. Holding Oil in Tank When Meal Cannot Wait
  6. Lecithin and the Gums Sold as a Third Stream
  7. The Oil Buyer at the Fence, Not the Oil Complex
  8. Term Oil Sales and the Tank Space They Free
  9. Unsold Meal and Oil as a Long Position
  10. Oil Quality Terms a Refiner Writes Into the Contract
  11. A Worked Oil Disposal Decision Over Three Months
M8 Covering the Processing Margin Forward Ch 86-96
  1. The Forward Contribution Line for One Named Plant
  2. Seasonal Shape in the Soybean Processing Margin
  3. Old Crop and New Crop Inside One Contribution Curve
  4. Covering the Margin Rather Than Three Prices
  5. Placing All Three Legs in One Session
  6. How Much of a Quarter to Cover and Who Decides
  7. The Case for Leaving Contribution Unfixed, and What It Assumes
  8. Contract Sizes That Do Not Divide Evenly
  9. Options on the Crush and Where They Are Taught
  10. A Covered Margin That Still Swings on the Books
  11. Judging the Cover Programme, Not the Outcome
M9 Capacity, Tolling and the Processor's Alternatives Ch 97-106
  1. Crushing for a Fee Instead of for a Margin
  2. The Right to Call on Crush Capacity
  3. Booking Capacity Ahead of a Harvest
  4. Selling the Beans Instead of Crushing Them
  5. Buying the Listed Crush Without Owning a Plant
  6. Debottlenecking Against a Thin Forward Margin
  7. Refining the Oil In House or Selling It Degummed
  8. Two Plants in One Company and Where to Crush
  9. The Co-operative Member Who Grows and Owns
  10. Whose Position a Tolled Crush Really Is
M10 A Crush Year and What the Margin Cannot Settle Ch 107-117
  1. A Crush Year, Part One: The Plant and Its Commitments
  2. A Crush Year, Part Two: Deciding Through a Thin Spring
  3. A Crush Year, Part Three: Rebuilding the Result From Invoices
  4. The Same Year With the Yield Pair Loosened
  5. The Monthly Pack a Crush Plant's Owner Reads
  6. The Bean Cover Loss Nobody Put Beside the Cheaper Beans
  7. Faults That Turn Up in a Crush Calculation
  8. A Right Calculation and a Wrong Decision
  9. The Questions a Crush Margin Leaves Open
  10. Soy Oil, Meal and the Processing Alternative Handed On
  11. Modelled, Physical and Reported on One Plant

The brochure gives each of these 117 chapters a paragraph on what it covers and what you can do once you have worked through it.

This is course 13 of twenty

It stands alone, and it is also the entry point to the Agricultural Commodities Desk Academy pathway.

Enrol or enquire See the whole pathway