US soyabean futures fell to a one-week low on Thursday as confirmation of a 1.13 million-tonne US soyabean sale to China failed to impress traders who are shifting their focus to burdensome US and global supplies, analysts said. Wheat futures neared a two-month top, supported by signs of rising global prices, while corn futures were little changed.
As of 12:22 p.m. CST (1822 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade January soyabeans were down 9-1/2 cents at $9.10-1/2 per bushel. CBOT March wheat was up 11-1/4 cents at $5.37-3/4 a bushel, its highest since Oct. 19. March corn was down 1/2 cent at $3.84-3/4 a bushel.
Soyabeans fell to session lows after the US Department of Agriculture said private exporters sold 1.13 million tonnes of US soyabeans to China, the first significant purchases in more than six months after a US-China trade truce was reached on Dec. 1.
Traders said the sales fell short of expectations, triggering a sell-off in futures. Both the CBOT January and March contracts had rallied about $1 per bushel since September, fueled in recent weeks by anticipation that China might return to the US soyabean market.
The USDA has forecast that US soyabean stocks at the end of the 2018/19 marketing year will reach a record-high 955 million bushels. The USDA projected world soya ending stocks at 115.33 million tonnes, nearly double the total from five years earlier.
Wheat futures rose on expectations of tightening global supplies and improving export demand for US wheat as shipments from rivals Russia and Ukraine begin to slow. The USDA reported weekly export sales of US wheat at 754,000 tonnes, the biggest tally since August.