Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures dropped on Wednesday as traders eyed expectations of huge US plantings that would add to the already record global stockpile of the oilseed. Bargain buyers stepped into the market when prices for the most-active contract neared the 2017 low of $9.92, which was hit on March 14.
Prices briefly firmed, but resistance for the benchmark May contract was noted at its 10-day moving average, a key technical point the contract has failed to hold support above for three days in a row. Brokerage INTL FCStone forecast that US farmers would plant a record 87.3 million acres of soyabeans this spring, up from 83.4 million acres a year ago.
Soyameal futures weakened for the fourth straight day. Support was noted at Tuesday's low. Soyaoil futures rose for the fifth day in a row, hitting their highest level since March 9. CBOT May soyaoil broke through its 30-day moving average for the first time since March 7 but failed to close above that key technical point.
Analysts were expecting a US Agriculture Department report on Thursday morning to show that export sales of soyabeans were in a range of 450,000 tonnes to 850,000 tonnes (old-crop and new-crop combined) in the latest week. A week ago, soyabean export sales totalled 697,360 tonnes.