Alan Brugler –Barchart
Fri Sep 15,
Soybeans closed with 17 ¾ to 20 ¼ cent losses on Friday. That left the November contract at a net 22 ¾ cent loss for the week. Nov closed the expiration gap from the September expiration on Friday. Soymeal futures closed Friday down by $6.80 to $7.30/ton. Soybean Oil was the complex’s outlier, ending the day up by 22 to 48 points across the front months. USDA had the B100 cash price unchanged for the week, from $4.85/gal in MN to $6.15 in IL.
NOPA members reported processing 161.45 mbu of soybeans in August. That is a 2.5% drop from Aug ’22 and was at the low end of the pre-report range of estimates – the average was to see 167.8 mbu. Soy oil stocks came in at 1.25 billion lbs – the tightest since October 2017. The low crush number hurt beans, but the tight soy oil stocks put a bid under BO.
CFTC data showed managed money funds were adding soybean shorts and closing bean longs during the week that ended 9/12. That weakened their net long by 9k contracts to 73,815. Commercial soybean hedgers were adding new longs, for a 4k weaker net short of 140k contracts. The spec traders were shown 62,202 contracts net long in meal, down by 3k for the week. The funds were 14k contracts less net long in BO via long liquidation for the week.
Ukrainian Ag Ministry has sunflower harvest at 1.04 MMT as of 9/15. That is up 12% from the same point last year. Nov 23 Soybeans closed at $13.40 1/4, down 20 1/4 cents, Nearby Cash was $12.74 3/8, down 22 cents, Jan 24 Soybeans closed at $13.55 3/4, down 20 cents, Mar 24 Soybeans closed at $13.65 1/2, down 19 1/2 cents. (Source: barchart.com)