Soybean futures were down hard on Thursday, undermined by rain and wetter forecasts for Argentina. Corn and wheat were also lower on the day.
Soybeans came under heavy pressure after beneficial rains fell in many areas of Argentina overnight. Meanwhile, more rain is expected into the weekend, with additional showers forecast for next week as well. It remains to be seen if all the rain materializes, but if it does it should help to quell market concern over the potential for dryness-related yield losses. On the other side, the USDA this morning reported a private export sale of 132,000 tonnes of US soybeans to China for 2024-25 delivery. Today’s USDA weekly export sales report was also generally positive, with bookings of US soybeans for the week ended Jan. 9 at 569,142 tonnes, in the middle of trade guesses. March beans tumbled 23 ¾ cents to $10.19, and November was down 18 ½ cents at $10.20 ¾.
The rain in Argentina weighed on corn as well, although good export demand helped to limit the downside. The USDA reported a private export sale of 135,000 tonnes of US corn this morning, and bookings of US corn for the week ended Jan. 9 of just over 1 million tonnes topped the range of trade guesses. March and December corn each slipped 4 ¼ cents to end at $4.74 ½, and $4.52 ¾.
Wheat was down amid a lack of any fresh news and the weakness in corn and soybeans. Weekly export sales came in at 513,424 tonnes, exceeding trade guesses that ranged from 150,000 to 400,000 tonnes. March Chicago dropped 9 ½ cents to $5.37 ½, March Kansas City lost 9 ¼ cents to $5.48 ¼, and March Minneapolis closed 6 cents lower at $5.81 ½.
