Soybeans Slide Amid Record Crop and Export Demand Concerns
US soybean futures fell on Thursday due to fund liquidation and market expectations that August's soybean crush likely dropped. The supply pressure from a record-large US crop is also weighing on prices, with concerns about export demand adding to the market's woes.
The slow harvest pace caused by wet late summer and early autumn weather has shifted traders' focus from weather-related crop quality problems to the abundance of new supplies, said Jack Scoville, vice president at Price Futures Group in Chicago. The US Department of Agriculture reported that US farmers and grain handlers had 35% more corn in storage on September 1 than a year earlier, a bigger-than-expected increase.
The most-active CBOT soybean contract settled down 9 cents at $12.84 per bushel, with the contract dipping to $12.73-3/4, the lowest since August 28. The USDA reported that US soybean processors crushed 209.6 million bushels of soybeans in August, below an average of trade estimates.