Heat Damaged Soybeans: Assessing Loss in Production and Product Quality

Regarding the issue of loss, we have identified heat loss as the main problem with the goods. The imported soybeans are primarily used for producing soybean oil, with soybean meal and a small amount of by-products such as lecithin and soap nuts. However, the crude fat content index of heat-damaged soybeans is almost identical to that of normal soybeans. Even when crude fat is decomposed, some of its products can still dissolve in solvents, resulting in minimal changes in test indicators. Therefore, it is challenging to assess the loss directly through the test indicators of the goods.

According to relevant research such as 'Evaluation of Processing Losses of Microbial Spoiled Brazilian Soybeans' and 'Analysis of Factors Affecting the Depreciation of Imported Bulk Soybean Residues,' the losses of heat-damaged soybeans mainly manifest in production and products. The production of such damaged soybeans can cause problems with product quality, reduced yield, and increased consumption. Different processing techniques and methods, such as whether to mix and process with normal soybeans and the mixing ratio, can lead to significant differences in the final calculated losses. Based on our experience, the usual method for calculating such cargo losses is to collect processing data of the damaged goods and compare it with the processing data of normal goods to obtain the yield loss and processing cost loss.

However, since we do not know the consignee's next steps regarding the handling of the goods and the extent of heat damage, we are unable to estimate the losses at this time.