In the soybean industry, the term ‘crush’ refers both to a physical process as well as a value calculation. The physical crush is the process of converting soybeans into the by-products of soybean meal and soybean oil. The crush spread is a dollar value quoted as the difference between the combined sales values of the products and the cost of the raw soybeans. This value is traded in the cash and futures markets based on expectations of future price movement of soybeans versus the components.


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