US MIDDAY: soya sharply lower on export data

Soyabean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were sharply lower early Wednesday after a firm open, reacting to worries about future US export business as the Gulf Coast was shut for the fourth day after Hurricane Katrina, traders said.
"It's due to the realisation that the Gulf of Mexico will probably be out of commission for quite some time," said Anne Frick, oilseed analyst with Prudential Securities.
"It's tough to rail enough to other ports to offset what is exported out of New Orleans," she said.
Roughly 70 percent of US grains and soyabeans are exported out of the Gulf Coast. But export terminals remain closed, waiting for power to be restored after Hurricane Katrina devastated the area earlier this week.
The September/November spread was also under pressure from heavy futures deliveries on Wednesday, first notice day. There was speculation that deliveries were partially tied to concerns that commercial firms needed to deliver commodities that may have been earmarked for export.
The September contract led the market lower, down 13-3/4 cents at $5.86 by 11:10 am CDT (1610 GMT). The September/November weakened, with new-crop November down 13-1/2 lower at $5.97-1/2, breaking through key support at $6.
Refco was a featured player, selling about 1,200 November by the midsession.
There were 1,086 soyabean deliveries against the September contract on Wednesday, with a customer of R.J. O'Brien posting 962 lots. That was above estimates for 500 to 1,000 contracts.
Registrations with the CBOT late on Tuesday were at 1,260 lots, up from 1,144 late on Monday. CIF soyabeans at the US Gulf were also sharply lower at Wednesday's midsession.
September soyameal was down $2.90 per ton at $181.70, with the deferreds down $1 to $3. September soyaoil was 0.22 cent per lb weaker at 22.64 cents and the back months were 0.30 cent lower to 0.15 cent higher.
There were 100 meal deliveries on first notice day, with stopping scattered among firms. Traders did not expect any soyameal deliveries on first notice day.
In soyaoil, there were heavy deliveries of 1,412 lots on Wednesday amid scattered stopping. Traders had estimated deliveries to range from 800 to 1,200 lots. CBOT soyameal registrations late Tuesday were 100 lots, up from none on Monday. Soyaoil registrations with the CBOT on Tuesday afternoon increased to 3,828 lots from 2,934 on Monday.