It was a slower and lower day of trade in the soy markets, that left soybeans down 3-4 cents at the close while the soy product markets gave back gains and finished lower. News for the day was limited to the export sales report, which did not offer any significant surprises. Commodity funds were estimated sellers of; 4,000 contracts each in the soybean and soyoil markets, and sold 2,000 soymeal.
The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange on Thursday estimated soybean planting progress at 24% complete, unchanged from a year ago but behind the 5 year average of near 32% complete. The Exchange held it’s estimate for soybean area steady at 18.1 Mil hectares, down 1.1 million from last year.
Heading into the weekend, the soy markets will continue to struggle for direction. Harvest is winding down and basis is recovering, but still holding at multi year lows. Next week is a holiday shortened trading week, and choppy markets look to continue. We look for spot soybeans to hold a broad range of $9.50-10 into year end.
