Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures fell for a third straight session on Wednesday, as meat processing plants continued to close due to the coronavirus pandemic, traders said.

That, in turn, is fueling market fears of a knock-on effect for demand for soyameal, which is widely used in feeding livestock.

The Trump administration plans to buy milk and meat from US farmers as part of an initial $15.5 billion effort to help them weather the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Wednesday.

CBOT May soyabeans settled the day down 5 cents, closing at $8.42 per bushel.

On a continuous basis, the front-month CBOT soyabean futures contract dipped to $8.38-3/4 per bushel in midday trading, its lowest since March 19.

CBOT May soyameal ended up $4.70 at $292.20 per short ton, while CBOT May soyaoil finished down 0.19 cent at 26.55 cents per pound.

US soya processors crushed a record-large volume of soyabeans in March, topping trade estimates for a fourth straight month, according to National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) data released on Wednesday.

Traders estimated that the USDA will report net export sales of 300,000 to 600,000 tonnes of old-crop US soyabeans, and 75,000 to 300,000 tonnes of new crop US soyabeans for the week ended April 9, according to a Reuters poll released Wednesday.

The marketing year starts on Sept. 1 for soyabeans.

Roughly a dozen North American meat plants have closed temporarily or cut production due to the coronavirus pandemic, raising worries about feed demand. Soyabean crushers in southern China have begun to receive beans again from South America, easing a supply shortage in the world's top market, crushers and analysts said.