Soybeans Fail to Hold Gains Following Export Business amid Meal Pressure

Pile of soybeans by PAVEL IARUNICHEV via iStock

Soybeans settled the Friday session with contracts steady to 1 ½ cents in the red, despite early strength and export business. January managed a 3 ¾ cent loss on the week. CmdtyView’s national front month Cash Bean price was up 3 1/4 cents at $9.34. Soymeal futures were down $3.50 to $4.30/ton across the board, with the front two contracts falling below $300. Soy Oil futures were up another 87 to 116 points on the day, as December managed a 215 point gain out of the week.

September crush data was released this afternoon by USDA, with actual soybean crush coming in at 186.4 mbu. That was below estimates, but up 11.31% from August and 6.72% above last year’s Sep record. Soy oil stocks were tallied at 1.501 billion lbs, below the 1.539 billion lb estimate.

Weekly Commitment of Traders data showed managed money adding 12,652 contracts to their net short position as of October 29. That took the position to -72,226 contracts. Commercials increased their net short position by 4,959 contracts in that week to 23,383 contracts.

USDA reported private export sales of 198,000 MT of soybeans to unknown destinations and 132,000 MT of soybeans to China for 2024/25 delivery this morning. Another 30,000 MT of bean oil was reported as sold to India. The recent uptick in export sales has taken soybean commitments (shipped and unshipped) to 26.266 MMT, up 13% from last year. That is also 52% of the USDA export projection, 6 percentage points behind the five-year average pace. Shipments are now 20% of that forecast, vs. the 19% average shipping pace.

Brazil’s soybean crop is estimated at 166.2 MMT according to StoneX’s latest estimate, a 1.17 MMT increase from their previous estimate.

Nov 24 Soybeans  closed at $9.82 1/2, unch,

Nearby Cash  was $9.34, up 3 1/4 cents,

Jan 25 Soybeans  closed at $9.93 3/4, down 3/4 cent,

May 25 Soybeans  closed at $10.25, down 1 cent,


On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.