CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures fell for a third straight day on Friday, hitting a one-week low on forecasts for beneficial rains in Argentina’s drought-hit crop belt, traders said. CBOT March soybeans are down 8-1/4 cents at $15.06-1/2 a bushel after falling to $15.04, the lowest contract since Jan. 12.
For the week, the March contract fell 21 1/4 cents a bushel, or 1.4%. CBOT soybean meal in March fell $7.50 to $463.70 a short ton and soybean oil in March fell 1.18 cents to 61.97 cents a pound. “Motter wet weather is finally expected in Argentina over the next 10 days, easing drought concerns and reducing crop stress, but dry weather could return in 11 to 15 days,” space technology company Maxar said in a daily weather note.
The US Department of Agriculture reported US soybean export sales for the week ended January 12 at 986,200 tons, in line with trade expectations of 600,000 to 1,300,000 tons. China, the world’s largest buyer of soy, booked 507,000 tons.
As part of its daily reporting rules, the USDA confirmed private sales of 220,000 tonnes of US soybeans to undisclosed destinations for delivery in the 2022-23 marketing year beginning September 1, 2022.
China’s soybean imports from the United States fell 10% in 2022, tariff data showed, reducing the United States’ share of that market to less than a third.
China’s stock and commodity futures markets will be closed for a week for the Lunar New Year holiday, which officially begins Jan. 21. Markets will resume trading on Monday 30th January.
CBOT WHEAT UP ON SHORT COVER
Meanwhile, Friday’s Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures closed higher on technical buying, including short covering and better-than-expected weekly U.S. export sales, traders said.
CBOT March soft red winter wheat fetched 7 cents at $7.41-1/2 a bushel. For the week, the CBOT March contract fell 2-1/4 cents a bushel, or 0.3%. KC March hard red winter wheat was up 16 cents at $8.48 a bushel on Friday and MGEX March spring wheat was up 8-3/4 cents to end at $9.12-3/4.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday expressed concerns about new export restrictions from the world’s largest wheat supplier, Russia’s Agriculture Ministry on Thursday eased fears by saying there were no plans to reduce a grain export quota.
CBOT corn mostly lower
Chicago Board of Trade corn futures ended mostly lower on Friday as pressure from beneficial rains expected in Argentina next week overshadows support from stronger-than-expected weekly US export sales, traders said.
CBOT corn in March was down 1 cent at $6.76-1/4 a bushel. For the week, the March contract was up 1-1/4 cents a bushel, or 0.2%, for its fifth weekly gain in the past six weeks. Rain in Argentina should help improve crop production prospects.
“Motter wet weather is finally expected in Argentina over the next 10 days, easing drought concerns and reducing crop stress, but dry weather could return in 11 to 15 days,” space technology company Maxar said in a daily weather note.
Comments are closed.