Soybean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade ended firm Monday on a short-covering bounce after Friday's sharp sell-off, traders said. The market was underpinned by expectations for US soybean acres and stocks to shrink in the years ahead as more US farmers plant corn.
Overhanging the soy market were heavy rains moving through parts of the eastern US Midwest over the weekend, which were stabilising crop conditions, and weak cash markets. "The day-to-day action these days is tough it's volatile. It's a bit of rebound from Friday," said Randy Mittelstaedt, analyst with R.J. O'Brien.
The large amount of soybean open interest held by large speculators and volume spread across two trading platforms - the pit and the screen - has heightened volatility, traders and analysts said.
July soybeans closed 7-1/4 cents per bushel higher at $8.04-1/4. The back months ended 5 to 8-1/4 higher. The products were up on a rebound and supported by commercial buying. CBOT July soymeal ended $2.70 higher at $220.10 per ton, with the deferreds up $2.50 to $5.50.
July soyoil ended 0.35 cent per lb higher at 35.08, with the back months 0.28 to 0.50 cent firmer. Commodity funds bought 3,000 soybean contracts, 1,000 soyoil and 1,000 soymeal. Commercials were buying both soymeal and soyoil. ADM, Bunge and Tenco bought July, August and December soyoil, traders said. Fimat USA bought about 1,000 soymeal contracts and ADM bought 500 August meal.
USDA said 15.6 million bushels of soybeans were inspected for export last week. The number was supportive, coming in above trade estimates for 6 million to 8 million. As expected, recent rains helped stabilised crop conditions. USDA said late Monday that 63 percent of the US soybean crop was in good to excellent condition, up 1 point from the week before. There was a big improvement in the Illinois soy crop, with 65 percent good to excellent - up from 52 percent in those categories the week before.
Midwest basis levels for soybeans remained weak on Monday amid scattered country sales as farmers cleaned bins, taking advantage of the higher trend in soybeans over the past month. Trade data issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday showed that large speculators expanded their net long positions in soybeans and soymeal while cutting their longs in soybean oil during the week ended June 19.
In soybeans, large speculators increased their net long position in soybeans by 2,000 contracts to 117,300, according to the supplemental report. For soyoil, large speculators cut their net long CBOT soyoil position slightly to 73,100 contracts, down about 360. Weekly CFTC trade data for futures/options showed that large speculators expanded their net long CBOT soymeal futures/options position by roughly 4,000 lots to 44,700.