US MIDDAY: soya falls

US soyabean and soyameal futures dropped nearly 2 percent on Monday, setting back from sharp rallies last week, as more supplies became available on the cash market, traders said. "The harvest is certainly moving along and guys are getting beans to the crushers," said Mark Gold, managing partner at Top Third Ag Marketing in Chicago. "Things have settled down here."
Corn futures also fell, weighed down by the weakness in the soya complex as well as a firm dollar that chilled demand for US supplies on the export market. Some rainy conditions in Brazil, beneficial to crop development for the crop being seeded there, added to the pressure on soyabeans. "Good harvest weather in the US and better planting weather in South America suggest that (soyabean) supply will remain comfortable," Tobin Gorey, an analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a research note to clients.
Chicago Board of Trade soyabeans for January delivery were down 19-3/4 cents at $10.29-1/2 a bushel at 11:55 am CST (1755 GMT). CBOT December soyameal shed $6.40 to $382.60 per ton. CBOT December corn was 4-1/4 cents lower at $3.72-1/2 a bushel. A US Agriculture Department report on Monday afternoon was expected to show the US soya harvest was 81 percent complete as of November 2, just 1 percentage point below the historical average, according to a Reuters poll. Corn harvest was seen at 60 percent complete.
The US dollar hit a new four-year high against a basket of major currencies on Monday, adding to gains made last week on the Bank of Japan's stimulus decision and the US Federal Reserve's policy statement that was less dovish than expected. Wheat futures edged higher, supported by the unwinding of some long corn/short wheat spreads. Chicago Board of Trade December wheat was up 1/2 cent at $5.33 a bushel. Poor demand on the export market for US wheat limited the gains.
Recent tenders showed US wheat's lack of competitiveness on Middle East markets, with no offer submitted in a tender awarded by the world's top importer Egypt over the weekend. Egypt's state grain buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities, said on Saturday it had bought 60,000 tonnes of French wheat in a tender for shipment on December 1-10. It bought the wheat at $260 a tonne cost and freight.