Soybean and wheat futures suffered heavier losses to end the week, while corn fell just modestly.
Soybeans were undone by weak fundamentals, including heavy global supplies. The International Grains Council earlier this week pegged the 2024-25 world soybean crop at a new record high of 421 million tonnes, up 2 million from the agency’s September estimate and 7% above the previous year’s 395 million. Charlie Sernatinger of Marex said in a note today the soy market needs to convince US producers to cut back soy acres in 2025. The weekly export sales report, delayed from Thursday, showed bookings of US soybeans for the week ended Oct. 10 at 1.7 million tonnes, in the middle of trade expectations. The USDA this morning also announced private export sales of almost 293,000 tonnes to unknown destinations. November beans lost 18 ¾ cents to $9.70, and January was down 15 ¼ cents at $9.82 ¾.
Reports attributed the weakness in wheat to indications the Russian government is trying to sell grain directly to certain countries, which would negatively impact global price transparency. Weekly export sales of US wheat were reported at just over 504,000 tonnes, on the high end of pre-report trade guesses. December Chicago lost 16 ¾ cents to $5.72 ¾, December Kansas City was down 15 ¼ cents at $5.80 ¾, and December Minneapolis closed 12 ¼ cents lower at $6.16 ½.
Corn was dragged lower by the losses in the other markets, even amid good export demand. Bookings of US corn for the week ended Oct. 10 came in at 2.22 million tonnes, above the high end of trade expectations. The USDA also reported a private export sale of 125,000 tonnes to unknown destinations this morning. December corn eased 2 cents to $4.04 ¾, and March was down 2 ¼ cents at $4.19.
