Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures fell 1 percent on Tuesday on technical selling and on signs of slowing export demand for US supplies, traders said. Corn and wheat also declined. At the CBOT, March soyabeans ended down 9-3/4 cents at $9.73-3/4 per bushel. March corn fell 2-3/4 cents to $3.81-1/4, and March wheat finished down 1-1/2 cents at $5.19 a bushel.
Soyabeans took cues from a setback in soyameal futures, which fell after the lead March contract failed to hold chart support above $340 a ton. March soyameal ended down $2.30 at $336.60 a ton. Soyameal fell on profit-taking. Values had rebounded from a 2-1/2 month low set last week, buoyed by export demand as poor margins slowed meal production in Argentina, the world's top supplier.
"It's the meal market's inability to follow through from yesterday's rally. If the meal market can't do it, the beans are not going to," said Tom Fritz, a partner at EFG Group in Chicago. Also bearish, the US Agriculture Department confirmed that private exporters cancelled sales of 120,000 tonnes of soyabeans to China for delivery in 2014/15. USDA said exporters also reported fresh sales of 111,000 tonnes of soyabeans to unknown destinations.
"I think the cancellation more than outweighed the net addition to unknown destinations," said analyst Terry Reilly at Futures International. USDA's announcement marked the third cancellation this month of soyabean sales to top buyer China. The moves reflect a seasonal shift in the focus of the export market from the United States to South America, where the soya harvest is getting started. Corn followed soyabeans lower, with the March contract hovering just above chart support at its 100-day moving average.
Wheat fell on plentiful global stocks and weak export demand, with CBOT March hitting a three-month low at $5.17-1/2 a bushel. But losses were limited as the dollar slipped, which could boost demand for US wheat among buyers holding other currencies. Also, Ukraine's Agriculture Ministry and traders agreed that no more than 1.2 million tonnes of milling wheat will be exported between January 1 and June 30.