Soyabean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were pressured on Friday, with the March contract falling below key support of $5, amid outlooks for a huge South American crop, traders said. Importers were also beginning to switch their business to Brazil and Argentina from the United States as the South American harvest progresses. There also was talk of ample supply of old-crop Argentina soyabeans that was finding its way into marketing channels this week.
The March contract was at $4.99-1/4, down 2-3/4 cents, by 11:10 am CST (1710 GMT). That was the first time the spot contract has been under $5 since June 2002.
The back months were 2 to 3-1/4 cents lower. Commodity funds and local traders were featured sellers.
Mostly favourable South American crop weather was bearish. Showers were forecast to move through soya fields in southern Brazil over the weekend.
But Brazil's No. 3 soya state, Rio Grande do Sul, was dry on Thursday, with conditions expected to remain dry over the next seven days. That state benefited from rain this week but was still on the dry side.
Argentina soya country was expected to get showers Monday through Wednesday.
Soyameal futures were weaker, following soyabeans, with contract lows made in all months. Steady to weaker US cash soyameal markets also pressured futures amid scattered soyabean sales.
March soyameal was down $1.30 at $149.40 per ton. The back months were $1.10 to 10 cents lower.
The soyaoil market was mixed, up 0.05 cent to down 0.03 cent per lb., trying to recover technically from its series of contract lows over the past month. But plentiful stocks of vegoils world-wide and spillover pressure weakness in soyabeans remained bearish.
March soyaoil was up 0.05 at 18.91 cent per lb.
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