US soyabean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were lower at midsession on Wednesday on a downward technical correction after making all-time highs the past two days, traders said. The products also set back after this week's rally.
March soyabeans were down 10-1/4 cents at $14.56-1/2 per bushel as of 11:32 am CST (1732 GMT), with May down 10-1/2 at $14.73-3/4. March soyameal was down $4.20 at $367.00 per ton, and March soyaoil was down 0.26 at 64.01 cents per lb.
Soyaoil drew some support from strength in global vegoil markets. Malaysian palm oil futures closed higher, rising nearly 2 percent on bullish price forecasts and fresh demand. China's Dalian soyabean oil futures also ended firm, with the back months notched contract highs.
The higher Asian markets served as a reminder of Asian demand for soyabeans and vegoils, which continues to underpin the CBOT soya complex despite the profit-taking on Wednesday. Also bullish were expectations for continued speculative buying as investors seek a hedge against inflation.
The Producer Price Index, an inflation gauge, on Tuesday showed its biggest rise in more than 26 years, climbing 1 percent in January and an annual 7.4 percent increase.
South American crop weather was a mixed bag. Southern Brazil's late-filling soyabean crop is benefiting from rains this week, while northern Brazil is wet and delaying harvest, a DTN Meteorlogix forecaster said. Southern Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul will receive 0.5 to 2.0 inches of rain through Saturday. In northern Brazil, the No 1 soya state of Mato Grosso saw scattered showers of 0.25 to 1.0 inch on Tuesday and will receive another 0.5 to 2.0 inches with locally heavier amounts through Friday.
"There will be some increase in harvest disruptions through the end of the week then improve over the weekend and early next week," said DTN's forecaster Mike Palmerino. Favourable rains and fewer outbreaks of Asian rust throughout Mato Grosso have led agronomists and producers on a crop tour to predict record yields in the state this year.
"The perspective that average yields will surpass 50 to 52 (60-kg) bags a hectare is real," agronomist Rafael Gregolin Abe of the private technical farm assistance company Impar told Reuters while on tour of Brazil's center-west states sponsored by analysts Agroconsult.
US Midwest basis bids for soyabeans were mixed early Wednesday, after scattered sales earlier this week triggered by the rally in CBOT markets, cash dealers said. The US Census Bureau will issue its January crush data on Thursday. In world news, South Korea and Japan could soon begin buying GMO soyabeans as the growing price premium on non-GMO crops is forcing more consumers to compromise on safety concerns, industry sources in Hong Kong said.