US soyabeans fell for a second straight session on Friday, dropping further below an eight-month high touched earlier this week, as Chinese importers' defaults on purchases of the oilseed weighed on prices. Corn sagged while wheat was near flat in choppy trade as brokers monitored two storm systems expected for the drought-hit US Plains.
At the Chicago Board of Trade as of 12:07 pm CDT (1707 GMT), May soyabeans were down 18-1/4 cents at $14.64 a bushel, holding above chart support at $14.60. The contract has not settled below $14.60 since late March.
May hit a life-of-contract top at $15.12 on Wednesday, the highest spot price in 8-1/2 months.
The selloff in soyabeans was triggered after Reuters this week reported that Chinese importers defaulted on at least 500,000 tonnes of US and Brazilian soyabean cargoes worth around $300 million - the biggest in a decade - as buyers struggled to get credit amid losses in processing beans. China is by far the world's largest soyabean buyer. "All this suggests that high prices for old-crop beans are not supported, when our best buyer is defaulting on purchases," said Helen Pound, senior commodity specialist with KCG Futures.
CBOT May corn was down 1-1/2 cents at $4.99-3/4 a bushel as traders assessed weather forecasts for the US Midwest, where spring seeding has been slow to start. CBOT May wheat was up 1 cent at $6.63-1/4 a bushel in choppy trade, with the contract bouncing off chart support near its 200-day moving average of $6.57-1/4.
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