Beans in Black at Midday

Front month soy futures are higher at midday for the Thursday session. Beans are fractionally to 6 1/4 cents in the black. Soymeal futures are trading $1.30 to $2/ton higher with the front months priced over $400/ton. BO prices are also up by 38 to 53 points so far. 

Export Sales data from the weekly FAS report had soybean bookings at 1.025 MMT for the week that ended 1/20. That was in line with estimates, and included two previously reported large sales to China and Mexico. China was the week’s top buyer with 540k MT booked on the week. Soybean exports were 1.594 MMT, which was a 12% dip from last week and was 28% lighter than the same week last season. Accumulated bean shipments reached 35.032 MMT by 1/20 according to the weekly data. 

For soymeal, USDA reported 330,069 MT were sold. That was 4% higher wk/wk but 30% below the same week last year. Meal exports were up by 25% on the week and 36% yr/yr to 327,074 MT. USDA had soybean oil export sales at 12,153 MT. That was down from 31k MT last week and from 52k MT during the same week last year. Accumulated soy oil commitments were 480,639 MT as of 1/20. 

Soybean shipments from Brazil were estimated to reach 85.5 MMT according to Safras and Mercado’s latest figure. They also see Brazil’s domestic crush at 47.5 MMT. That compares to the January USDA numbers for 94 MMT and 47.2 MMT respectively. Looking at output, Planalytics reduced their Brazilian yield forecast to 2.85 MT/HA (~ 42.4 bpa). That compares to CONAB’s 3.478 MT/HA forecast and USDA’s 3.44 MT/HA (51.15 bpa). 

Mar 22 Soybeans  are at $14.46 1/4, up 6 1/4 cents,

Nearby Cash   is at $14.01 1/8, up 5 3/4 cents,

May 22 Soybeans  are at $14.51 1/2, up 4 1/2 cents,

Nov 22 Soybeans  are at $13.39 3/4, up 5 3/4 cents,

New Crop Cash   is at $12.83, up 6 1/2 cents,