Soy Prices Close Mixed but Mostly Lower

Soybeans added another double digits to the downside on Thursday. That has March beans at a net 53 1/4 cent loss for the week thus far. Meal futures bounced during the afternoon trade, and closed mixed with March $2.20 higher and May $1.60 weaker. Jan meal, while in deliveries, set a new life of contract high on Thursday. Soybean oil futures ended the day with 17 to 43 point losses. 

Monthly soy exports were 9.668 MMT (355.22 mbu) for soybeans, 1.136 MMT for soymeal, and 10,634 MT for soy oil during November. The official Census data had the bean shipments 1.2% below October and 9.7% below Nov ’21. For Q1’s total, soybean exports were 792.6 mbu or 38.8% of the USDA full-season forecast. China was the destination for 71% of the total during the month of November. 

Analyst estimates for the weekly Export Sales report range 400k to 1.2m MT for beans during the week that ended 12/29. New crop soybean sales are expected below 125k MT. For soymeal the trade is looking for between 50k and 300k MT sold. BO bookings are estimated to be less than 12k MT from the week that ended 12/29. 

Data from the Argentine Ag Ministry had farmer sales for old crop soybeans (21/22) at 80.1% as of 1/4. That is near last year’s selling pace. 

Export data from Brazil showed 77.8 MMT of soybeans were shipped in 2022. That compared to 2021’s yearly shipment of 86.6 MMT. Last year’s drought made a difference! Meal shipments were 20.4 MMT for the year, up from 16.88 MMT last season. 

Jan 23 Soybeans  closed at $14.66 3/4, down 11 1/2 cents,

Nearby Cash   was $14.37 3/8, down 12 3/4 cents,

Mar 23 Soybeans  closed at $14.70 3/4, down 12 3/4 cents,

May 23 Soybeans  closed at $14.77 1/2, down 12 1/2 cents,