Soybean futures are currently down 6 to 7 cents as of Friday morning, with March Soybeans closing at $10.72 1/4, a decrease of 2 3/4 cents. Open interest rose by 7,608 contracts on Thursday, with notable exits from March contracts. The cmdtyView national average cash bean price stands at $10.05, down 2 3/4 cents.
The USDA reported on Thursday that for the week ending January 22, 818,972 MT of soybeans were sold, significantly down from the previous week but over double the sales of the same week last year. China remains a leading buyer, acquiring 233,500 MT. In addition, soybean meal sales reached 464,297 MT, exceeding estimates, while soybean oil sales were recorded at 22,052 MT.
Trade data indicated that November soybean exports were recorded at 4.29 MMT, the lowest for that month since 2007. The USDA is set to release crush data on Monday, anticipated to show soybean crush at 230.4 million bushels for December.
