Soyabean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed lower on Thursday on profit-taking after a volatile session trading in a 20-cent range, traders said.
"The rally this couldn't carry anywhere and that probably led to some more profit-taking by longs," said Anne Frick, oilseed analyst with Prudential Financial.
January soyabeans closed 7-1/4 cents lower at $6.56-1/2 per bushel, after climbing 7-1/4 cents to $6.71. The soya market slid amid weaker corn and energy prices, with the January contract slipping below on Monday's low of $6.55-1/2 and its 20-day moving average 6.52-1/2.
December corn closed 6-3/4 cents down at $3.51-1/2 per bushel and New York crude oil fell $2.50 per barrel. Soyabeans track the moves in corn, trying to keep pace preventing additional acreage losses next spring. The soya/corn price relationship is enticing farmers to plant a lot more corn next spring and the expense of fewer soyabeans.
Weekly export sales data provided support to soya. The US Agriculture Department reported on Thursday that 755,600 tonnes of US soyabeans were sold for export last week, slightly above trade estimates for 550,000 to 750,000 tonnes. Also, USDA on Thursday confirmed the sale of 115,000 tonnes of US soya to an unknown destination.
Spot basis bids for soyabeans were mostly unchanged in the US Midwest and country selling remained slow as producers held out for higher prices.
Rain and cooler weather continues to delay corn and soyabean harvest in the southern and eastern areas of the US Midwest. The products closed lower as soyabeans and other commodity markets fell. December soyaoil closed 0.06 cent weaker at 28.33 cents per lb. The back months were down 0.10 to 0.23. December soyameal ended $2.50 weaker at $190 per ton, with the deferreds $1.50 to $2.50 downs. December meal closed below its 20-day moving average of $191.
"One of the things that is causing the weakness is concern about meal usage with livestock prices declining and feed costs increasing so it's narrowing the feeding margins," Frick said. There is also the outlook that processors will be crushing for soyaoil in the year ahead to meet the needs of the biodiesel industry a switch from the tradition of crushing for meal to meet livestock feed demand.
There was little direction provided from weekly export data for meal and oil. USDA said US soyameal export sales last week totalled 134,200 tonnes, within estimates for 125,000 to 175,000 tonnes. US soyaoil exports reached 18,000 tonnes, above estimates for 2,000 to 7,000 tonnes, but traders were hoping for an improvement after last week's disappointing minus 100 tonnes.