Soybeans Futures PricesFriday, Feb 10th, 2012

Soybean futures closed slightly higher on the day and were down 4 cents for the week. Managed Money increased their net soybean long by 22,238 contracts while Index Funds decreased their net long by 2,906 contracts. Private exporters announced the sale of 120,000 MT of soybeans to China for 2011/12 delivery this morning. One bearish note in yesterday’s monthly WASDE report was the reduction in projected Chinese imports for the 2011/12 marketing year. The forecast is still above last year, however. As of February 2nd China had imported 14.809 MMT versus 18.121 MMT at the same time last year. USDA World soybean ending stocks were decreased to 60.28 MMT from 63.43 MMT on the January report. This was about as expected, however. Cash basis levels were steady to higher at elevators and steady to lower at processors and river terminals with the exception of a 2 cent higher push at an Iowa River terminal.

Mar 12 Soybeans closed at $12.29, up 1 1/2 cents,
May 12 Soybeans closed at $12.37 1/2, up 1 1/2 cents,
Jul 12 Soybeans closed at $12.47, up 1 1/4 cents,
Nov 12 Soybeans closed at $12.39 1/2, up 1 cent,
Mar 12 Soybean Meal closed at $320.00, down $1.00,
Mar 12 Soybean Oil closed at $52.53, down $0.01