Soyabean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade plunged on Tuesday on outlooks for satisfactory crop weather this week in the Midwest, which should help crops mature, traders said.
Soyabeans rallied last week on concerns about cold weather moving into the northern Midwest states. Also, remnants of Hurricane Frances, which swept through Florida over the weekend, were not expected to significantly damage US soya or corn crops.
Traders also expected US soya conditions to improve up to 2 percentage points in the US Department of Agriculture's weekly crop report. The government will release the report after the market close.
The soyabean market fell further when soyaoil futures dived more than a penny in the front seven months. Soyaoil gained on soyameal last week amid worries that an early frost in the Upper Midwest would reduce oil yields.
The oil/meal spread was correcting on Tuesday as funds sold. Also bearish was a lower close in Malaysian palm oil futures overnight.
Soyabean futures were down 25-1/2 cents to 28-1/4 cents per bushel by 10:55 am (1555 GMT). September was down 26-3/4 cents at $5.88 and new-crop November was 27-3/4 lower at $5.84-1/2.
Soyaoil futures were 0.53 cent to 1.48 cent per lb weaker, with September down 1.48 at 24.75 cents and December down 1.40 at 24.03 cents. Soyameal futures were $2 to $5.20 per ton weaker, with September $2 lower at $172.30, pressured by the tumble in soyabeans.
US soya basis bids were mixed on Tuesday, while Midwest cash soyameal offers were steady to weak.
In soyabeans, funds trimmed their net short position. They were long 30,928 lots, up 1,459 from the week before, and short 50,049 contracts, down 1,721. For soyameal futures, funds expanded their net short stance.
They were long 5,606 contracts, down 1,103, and short 9,801, up 569 lots from the previous week.