The majority of Soybean crops are divided between soybean meal and oil. Soybean meal is mainly used as a high protein diet for animals. Soybean oil is used for vegetable oil, and in the US, it is the main oil-seed used, accounting for around 90% of all oil-seed production. Soybean as a whole is the second most traded agricultural commodity. Soybean meal futures contract has 8 contract months and Soybean oil also has 8 contracts that are trade-able.
What influences the price?
Growing conditions, like other agricultural commodities are affected by the weather conditions during growing season. If the conditions are too wet, then production will be affected. As the US is the biggest producers of Soybean, the strength of US dollar affects prices. A weak dollar can ultimately affect production as farmers may not want to producer as much, knowing that they will not get the same or better price than the previous year.
The Chinese demand for Soybean, especially "meal" has a huge impact on prices. The Chinese demand for the protein feed accounts for around 2/3rds of the worlds feed. China is a price driver of Soybean and they are able to affect the market significantly due to being the largest importers.
Weekly Soybean/meal/oil Price for the March 2019 futures contract
Below is an overview of how the prices fluctuated for March 2019 futures contract for week 9. As you can see, Soybean and soybean meal have a relatively similar chart, such as that when Soybean prices decreased, Soybean meal generally decreased too. However, Soybean oil has a slightly different trend and decreased more often in comparison to the other two.
Sources
https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/agricultural/grain-and-oilseed/soybean_contract_specifications.html
https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/agricultural/grain-and-oilseed/soybean-oil_contract_specifications.html
https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/agricultural/grain-and-oilseed/soybean-meal_quotes_globex.html
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