Chicago | Reuters—U.S. soybean futures fell to one-week lows on Thursday as weak domestic cash markets, poor weekly export sales and worries about the size of U.S. biofuel mandates raised fears about demand for the oilseed, brokers said.
Wheat futures also sagged while corn bucked the lower trend, ending modestly higher.
Chicago Board of Trade July soybeans SN25 settled down 8-1/4 cents at $10.42-1/4 per bushel after dipping to $10.38-1/2, the contract’s lowest since June 4.
CBOT July wheat WN25 fell 7-3/4 cents to end at $5.26-1/2 per bushel but July corn CN25 closed up 1-1/2 cents at $4.38-1/2 a bushel.
Read Also
U.S. grains: Corn futures hit two-week low; soy slides, wheat steadies
U.S. corn futures hit a two-week low on Monday and soybeans also fell as market players continued to brace for large crops and forecasts called for milder, non-threatening weather in the Midwest production belt.
The biggest declines in CBOT soybean futures were in the spot July SN25 contract, reflecting weakening cash markets after several domestic soy processors lowered their bids to buy old-crop soybeans for prompt delivery.
“We are not going to run out of beans any time soon. We’ve got a fairly decent-looking new crop coming on, and our demand just stinks,” said Tom Fritz, a partner with EFG Group in Chicago.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported export sales of U.S. old-crop soybeans in the week ended June 5 at 61,400 metric tons, a marketing-year low that fell below trade expectations.
Also, CBOT July soy oil futures BON25 fell 0.9 per cent on worries about demand for biofuels. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday will propose new biofuel blending requirements for oil refiners that will likely include a lower biomass-based diesel mandate than industry groups had requested, four sources told Reuters.
CBOT wheat futures hit a 3-1/2 week bottom on slowing export demand and seasonal weakness as the Northern Hemisphere winter wheat harvest gets under way. In monthly supply-demand reports released Thursday, the USDA trimmed its forecast of U.S. wheat inventories for the end of the 2025/26 marketing year but left its estimate of the nation’s wheat harvest unchanged at 1.921 billion bushels.
“We are not competitive, and the USDA just told us we’ve got a pretty decent-sized (U.S.) wheat crop coming at us,” Fritz said.
Corn futures ticked higher, with a slide in the dollar and bullish USDA stocks data lending support.
The USDA lowered its monthly forecast of U.S. 2024/25 corn ending stocks to 1.365 billion bushels, down from 1.415 billion in May and below an average of analyst expectations, reflecting an increased estimate of 2024/25 corn exports.
—Reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Ella Cao and Lewis Jackson
