NOPA September US soybean crush drops to 13 — month low of 196.3 million bushels

By Karl Plume CHICAGO, Oct 15 (Reuters) — The US soybean crush declined by more than expected in September to a 13-month low, according to monthly National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) data issued on Thursday, as scattered plant maintenance downtime and harvest delays impeded the processing pace. Soyoil stocks dropped last month to the lowest in nearly 12 years, NOPA data showed. NOPA members, which account for nearly all soybeans crushed in the United States, processed 196.300 million bushels of soybeans last month, down 4.5% from the August crush of 205.456 million bushels and 0.8% below the September 2025 crush of 197.863 million bushels. US soybean processing capacity has expanded over recent years due to rising demand for vegetable oils to produce biofuel, but seasonal plant maintenance downtime ahead of the autumn harvest has slowed crushing in recent months. In addition, harvesting delays due to ill-timed rains in the western Midwest limited soybean supplies so several processors were forced to slow operations or halt the crush altogether last month, analysts said. The impact was particularly stark in Iowa, the top soy crushing state, where the September crush was d