Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soyabean futures closed lower for the first time in three sessions on Friday on worries about lagging demand for US supplies as the dollar firms and South American farmers harvest a bumper crop, traders said.
CBOT May soyabeans settled down 6-3/4 cents at $9.03-3/4 per bushel. The contract ended down 0.6 percent on the week, its third weekly decline in four weeks.
CBOT May soyameal ended down 30 cents at $315.00 per short ton and May soyaoil fell 0.44 cent to 28.66 cents per pound. A firmer US dollar and spillover pressure from a broader commodities market sell-off pressured soyabeans. Concerns about slow demand for US soyabeans amid ongoing US-China trade talks also hung over the market.
US soyabean plantings could be larger than previously thought this season as record flooding in the western Corn Belt may delay or prevent growers from seeding corn. The US Department of Agriculture is due to release its prospective plantings report next Friday.
US farmers are likely to plant 85.9 million acres of soyabeans in 2019, down 3.7 percent from the previous year, according to a Farm Futures survey of nearly 1,000 growers released on Friday.