Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soyabean futures fell to a one week low on Thursday as confirmation of a 1.13-million-tonne sale of US soyabeans to China failed to impress traders who are shifting their focus to burdensome US and global supplies. CBOT January soyabeans settled down 13 cents at $9.07 a bushel after touching $9.05-1/4, its lowest since December 6, while March ended down 12-3/4 cents at $9.20-1/2.
CBOT January soyameal ended down $4.10 at $308.50 per short ton and January soyaoil fell 0.21 cent at 28.83 cents per pound. Soyabeans hit session lowest after the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced private sales of 1.13 million tonnes of US soyabeans to China for 2018-19 delivery, confirming a portion of sales reported by traders a day earlier.
The purchase, China's first since a trade war with the United States began in July, disappointed traders hoping for larger sales to lift slumping prices and absorb a huge surplus across the US farm belt. The USDA reported export sales of US soyabeans in the week to December 6 at 792,300 tonnes for the 2018-19 crop and 3,000 for the 2019-20 crop, in line with trade expectations.
A government policy imposing minimum truck freight prices in Brazil, adopted after a truckers strike in May, is holding up forward sales of the new soyabean crop, an official with the soya processing group Abiove said.