Soybeans marked daily lows just after the morning open and then traded higher into the close leaving soybeans 3-5 cents higher. Solid US export demand followed by a better than expected crush rate offered support, while the large May crush kept meal down, and soyoil gained on better than expected monthly demand. Funds were estimated as net buyers of 4,000 soybeans/7,000 soyoil while selling 2,000 meal.
Soybean export sales were within expectations at 340,249 MTs, but along with last week’s shipment pace total commitments increased to 59 MMTs, or 106% of the USDA’s June export forecast, with record shipments of 52 MMTs and outstanding sales of 7 MMTs. It’s likely that the USDA will increase exports in the July WASDE, by at least another 15-25 Mil Bu.
The USDA reported that 6% of the US soybean crop was under drought conditions, with most of those acres in the Dakota states. 62% of the ND acres and 32% of SD, were counted as in either severe or extreme drought. Early week rains helped reduce drought conditions, but significantly more rain is needed to reverse drought trends.
Funds are heavily short soy and the key growing season lies dead ahead!
