Chicago soybeans slip on South America outlook; wheat gains on US Plains dryness

BEIJING: Chicago soybean futures fell on Thursday, pressured by competition from global suppliers such as Brazil, which is expecting a bumper crop this year.

The most-active soy contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) fell 0.33% to $10.63-1/2 a bushel by 0443 GMT. Prices had earlier drawn support from China’s continued purchases of US soybeans.

Beijing’s total purchases of the latest US crop are now estimated at between 8.5 million metric tons and nearly 10 million tons, according to traders and analysts.

However, expectations of a large Brazilian soybean harvest weighed on Chicago prices.

“Soybean prices are still being tempered by expectations of a large crop in South America,” said Claire Adams, an agricultural analyst at Bendigo Bank Agribusiness.

On Wednesday, Sergio Mendes, head of grain traders lobby Anec, said in an interview that sales of US soybeans to China will partly dent demand for the Brazilian product this year from the world’s largest importer.

CBOT wheat gained 0.1% to $5.18-1/2 a bushel.

Tensions in the Black Sea region drew focus away from ample global wheat supplies, Adams said. Russian strikes late on Wednesday knocked out power supplies in almost all of two southeastern Ukrainian regions, the energy ministry said.

Weather concerns across some US growing regions also lent support to wheat, Adams added. CBOT corn dipped 0.17% to $4.46 a bushel.

The US Department of Agriculture is scheduled to release estimates for US winter wheat plantings on January 12, along with data on last year’s corn and soybean yields.

Traders said they expected the agency to cut its estimate for average US corn yields due to late-season dryness.

In Argentina, a key global food exporter, the Rosario Grains Exchange (BCR) forecasts a record 2025/26 corn harvest of 61 million tons and a soybean harvest of 47 million tons.