Soyabean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade tumbled early on Tuesday as traders brushed off supportive USDA stocks data and turned their attention to weather maps showing rains moving through the parched areas of Illinois, floor traders said.
"Everyone is looking at the weather maps that are showing green moving across Illinois," said one CBOT floor broker.
July soyabeans were down 9 cents at $6.79 per bushel and new-crop November soya was 10-1/2 lower at $6.91 by 10:45 am CDT (1545 GMT).
Commodity funds were net sellers of roughly 3,000 lots by midmorning. Refco and Cargill Investor Services each sold 1,000 November, traders said.
Illinois, the No 1 soya state in 2004, was in desperate need of rain to help revive crops. The US Department of Agriculture reported late Monday that 54 percent of the US soya crop was in good to excellent condition, down from 58 percent a week ago.
About 1 to 1.5 inches of rain were forecast for the southern and eastern parts of Illinois through Indiana and Ohio following the remnants of Hurricane Dennis, Meteorlogix forecaster Joel Burgio said Tuesday.
Overnight, southern Illinois saw 0.50 to 2.0 inches of rain and 0.10 to 0.50 inch fell across central Illinois. Northern Illinois was dry.
The market was lower despite supportive government US stocks data released early Tuesday.
USDA trimmed 30 million bushels off its old-crop carryout figure and 45 million off its new-crop estimate, reflecting good demand for soyabeans. The new-crop projection also showed a 5 million bushel drop in production as the eastern crop belt continues to suffer from a lack of rain.
"They are a little constructive for the old crop. New-crop is not bearish, they reduced their carry-over projection by 45 million bushels but I don't think it was dramatic," said Anne Frick, oilseed analyst with Prudential Securities.
The July contract was under added pressure after large deliveries of 1,138 lots on early Tuesday. Stopping was scattered among firms.
Soya registrations with the CBOT were unchanged at 1,645 lots.
Midwest cash basis bids for soyabeans late Monday were steady to firm and farmer selling remained light. The soyameal and soyaoil markets followed the weakness in soyabeans. Underpinning meal prices was supportive USDA data. July soyameal was down $1.10 per ton at $213.50, with the deferreds down $1.40 to $2.50. July soyaoil was down 0.22 cent per lb at 24.55 cents, with the back months 0.15 to 0.24 lower.
USDA estimated US 2005/06 soyameal stocks at 250,000 tons, unchanged from last month's estimate despite a 10 million bushel increase in the expected US soya crush. However, US 2005/06 soyaoil stocks were pegged at 1.67 billion lbs vs. 1.54 billion last month. There were 78 soyameal deliveries on the July contract but no soyaoil deliveries.