Soybeans Drop Into the Weekend

Front month soybean futures traded 13 1/4 to 21 1/4 cents lower on Friday. That left the May contract at a 17c loss for the week, and the November contract at a 16 1/4 cent loss. Meal futures ended the session $3.90 to $5.60/ton lower on Friday. Soy oil futures went into the weekend on triple digit losses, with May down 103 points. USDA cited the B100 cash price in MN was UNCH at $4.24/gal. 

CFTC’s weekly Commitment of Traders report showed net new buying from soybean spec traders during the week that ended 4/18 (the high day for the week). The 11.3k new longs expanded the group’s net long to 134,782 contracts. The commercial soybean hedgers liquidated 50k contracts during the week, with the larger long liquidation than short covering taking their net short hedge to 214,706 contracts.

In the products, CFTC reported managed money at 105,682 contracts net long in soymeal. That is a 10k contract increase for the week driven by net new buying. The spec funds were adding new shorts in BO through the week, taking their net short to 15,743 contracts. 

Industry sources had two vessels of Brazilian sourced soybean imports to be delivered in the U.S. The Anderson’s reportedly booked 33k MT, and Bunge reportedly booked 46,150 MT. Very low Brazilian FOB prices make these moves pencil. 

The BAGE reported Argentina’s soy harvest as 16.7% complete. They reduced their production forecast by 2.5 MMT to 22.5 MMT due to lower than expected yields. 

May 23 Soybeans  closed at $14.83 1/2, down 14 cents,

Nearby Cash   was $14.36 1/8, down 19 5/8 cents,

Jul 23 Soybeans  closed at $14.49, down 19 1/2 cents,

Nov 23 Soybeans  closed at $12.85 1/4, down 15 1/4 cents,