Soybeans fall on favourable crop weather, ample global supplies

BEIJING: Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures continued to fall on Friday after hitting four-month lows in the last session, amid generally favourable US crop weather and ample global supplies.

Wheat gained, and corn was flat.

The most-active soybeans contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) fell 0.1% to $11.13-1/2 a bushel by 0250 GMT.

Wheat gained 0.7% to $5.90-3/4 a bushel, and corn was flat at $4.11-3/4 a bushel.

For the week, soybeans were down 0.7%, wheat was up 1.9%, and corn lost 1.4% so far.

Storms crossed the Midwest crop belt, bringing localised wind and hail damage along with broadly beneficial rain that was expected to promote crop growth.

The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) weekly export sales report showed net sales of old-crop soybeans in the week to June 4 at 211,300 metric tons and new-crop sales of 141,500 tons, toward the low end of trade expectations.

The USDA also raised its estimate of Argentina’s 2025/26 soybean crop to 50 million metric tons, from 48 million last month.

Brazil’s national crop agency Conab raised its estimate of the country’s 2025/26 soybean harvest to a record 180.25 million metric tons from its previous monthly estimate of 180.13 million tons.

The agency also increased its estimate of corn yields in Argentina and Brazil.

It said the forecast of global corn inventories at the end of the 2026/27 marketing year was at 281.22 million metric tons, up from 277.54 million in May and above a range of trade expectations.

The USDA raised its forecast of global wheat inventories remaining at the end of the 2026/27 marketing year to 275.42 million metric tons from 275.04 million in May, while analysts surveyed by Reuters on average had expected a slight reduction.

The agency showed net export sales of US wheat in the week to June 4 at 666,300 metric tons, topping a range of trade expectations in its weekly export sales report.