Sharp Losses to End Soys Wide Ranged Week

Following a $1.79 ranged week, front month May beans went home a net 19 cents weaker from Friday to Friday. Friday’s session specifically dropped prices by 3.8% to 4.3%. In new crop, pries went home 34 1/2 to 44 1/2 cents lower. Soymeal futures dropped $12.80 to $16.60/ton on the day. BO prices were also triple digits weaker after dropping 4% to 4.51% on Friday. BO prices are 315 to 361 points in the red so far. Monday is FND for the March contracts. USDA saw B100 biodiesel from $6 to $6.07/gallon this week, compared to $5.70 last week. 

The weekly CoT report showed soybean spec traders were net buyers of beans through the week that ended 2/22. That left the group 4,962 contracts more net long to 180,334 contracts – a 60 week high. Commercial soybean traders reduced OI by 38,400 contracts – mostly via long liquidation. That extended the commercial net short by 8,332 contracts to 315,154 contracts – the most since December of 2020. 

For the products, the weekly CFTC data showed a 90,417 contract net long for meal spec traders. That was 1,247 contracts stronger wk/wk and the group’s strongest net long since June of 2018. For BO, the funds were net buyers through the week that ended 2/22 pushing their net long by 8,819 contracts to 79,200. 

USDA flashed some large private export sales this morning, as China booked 334k MT of new crop and unknown destinations booked 285k MT (159k old and 126k MT new crop). The weekly report showed 1.232 MMT of soybeans were booked during the week that ended 2/17. That was above the top end of the expected range with 239k MT previously announced. For new crop sales, USDA announced 866,500 MT were sold – which was just above the expected range and included 311k MT of previously announced business. Shipments were seen at 1.26 MMT for the week that ended 2/17. China was the top destination for the week with 393k MT. 

USDA’s FAS reported soymeal bookings were 231.9k MT during the week that ended 2/17. That was in-line with estimates. For soybean oil, weekly export sales were 35.47k MT. That was a 9-week high and at the top end of pre-report estimates. 

Mar 22 Soybeans  closed at $15.90 1/4, down 71 1/4 cents,

Nearby Cash  was $15.36 1/2, down 71 5/8 cents,

May 22 Soybeans  closed at $15.84 1/2, down 69 1/2 cents,

Nov 22 Soybeans  closed at $14.15, down 36 1/2 cents,

New Crop Cash  was $13.66 1/8, down 36 3/4 cents,