# Soybean meal price USDA soybean meal board price per ton, national fob plant median, with its cost per unit of protein and energy _Data through Aug 17, 2026 · source last checked Aug 27, 2026 · page revised Aug 27, 2026_ > Now $338/ton (national median across 7 fob plant regions) as of Aug 17, 2026, USDA, up 4% on the week. Protein costs $0.355 per lb of crude protein (100% of soybean meal); energy $0.231 per lb of TDN (220% of corn). Soybean meal priced at $338 a ton as of Aug 17, up 3.9 percent on the week. Year over year it is up 13.8 percent, though it sits 11.9 percent below the 4-year median. ## The numbers | Period | Current | Prior | Change | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Week over week | $338/ton | $325/ton | +3.9% | | Month over month | $338/ton | $345/ton | -2.1% | | Year over year | $338/ton | $297/ton | +13.8% | | vs 4-yr median | $338/ton | $383/ton | -11.9% | ## About Soybean meal price Soybean meal is a protein feed, fed to raise a ration's crude-protein content. On a dry-matter basis it runs about 53.5% crude protein and 82% TDN, roughly 0.94 Mcal of net energy for lactation per pound of dry matter, at about 89% dry matter as fed. Those figures come from feedtables.com (INRA/CIRAD/AFZ), soybean meal 48%, citing NRC 2001. SBM-48. TDN clusters 81-82% (NRC-2001/dairy method) vs 87-88% (older NRC-Beef-1996 tables); 82 is the dairy-relevant midpoint. The leaderboard uses them to convert this week's board price into a cost per pound of protein and per pound of energy, so it can be ranked against corn and soybean meal. Prices are quoted per ton, and the cheapest board price is not the cheapest fed price once freight and moisture are counted (see the FOB-vs-delivered guide). Soybean meal is the protein benchmark this whole board is measured against, crushed from soybeans at plants concentrated across the Corn Belt and the Mississippi Delta. Crush economics increasingly run on the oil side of the ledger: renewable diesel and biodiesel demand for soybean oil has pulled new crush capacity online, with meal arriving as the co-product of a decision made mostly for the oil. Export demand, historically led by China, competes with the US animal feed industry for the same beans, the largest buyer spanning poultry, swine and dairy rations. Its amino acid balance, lysine especially, beats almost every other plant meal here, the real reason it sets the standard others are priced against. ## About this data - Source: USDA AMS feedstuffs board - Series: Soybean meal board price - Basis: FOB plant preferred, national cross-region median - Geography: National - Unit: $/ton - Calculation period: Weekly cross-region median - Last observation: Aug 17, 2026 - Update frequency: Weekly --- Cite: Soybean meal price is $338/ton as of Aug 17, 2026 (USDA feedstuffs board). The Ration. https://the-ration.com/ingredient/soybean-meal Canonical URL: https://the-ration.com/ingredient/soybean-meal