U.S. soybean futures fell Monday, pressured by favorable weather for South American soy crops.
Chicago Board of Trade November soybeans settled down 34 cents, or 2.2%, at $15.27 1/4 a bushel, a more than one-week closing low.
Soybean futures fell as rain forecast for northern regions of Brazil boosted hopes that South America will produce the large soy crops needed to alleviate tight world supplies.
The rains will benefit newly planted crops and replenish moisture for plantings in areas that suffered from dry conditions in prior weeks.
"A week ago we were trying to add some South American weather premium in, and this week we're taking some away," said Chad Henderson, president of advisory firm Prime Ag Consultants in Brookfield, Wis.
Technical selling also weighed on soybeans Monday, as traders sold futures to reduce risk after last week's price gains were erased.
Droughts that damaged South America's previous soy crop and the current U.S. crop sharply reduced expectations for supplies earlier this year, leading U.S. soybean futures to reach nominal all-time highs in September. Futures later eased as expectations improved for the U.S. crop, which is now being harvested.
Market participants sold off soybeans Monday despite the latest sign of strong export demand for tight U.S. supplies of the oilseed. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday said 63.358 million bushels of soybeans were inspected or weighed for exoprt in the week through Thursday. Analysts' predictions had ranged from 40 million to 60 million bushels.
Corn and wheat futures each fell in a low-volume session. Corn fell just slightly, as traders continue to weigh tight supplies of the grain against weak demand caused by current high prices. Wheat fell on profit-taking.
Technical traders may buy corn when markets reopen after December futures settled close to unchanged, holding their price level after bouncing off of their overnight lows Monday morning, traders said.
December corn fell 3/4 cent or 0.1% to $7.37 a bushel.
CBOT December wheat fell 5 3/4 cents, or 0.7%, to $8.58 a bushel. Kansas City Board of Trade December wheat fell six cents, or 0.7%, to $9.03 1/4 a bushel. Minneapolis Grain Exchange December wheat fell 1 3/4 cents, or 0.2%, to $9.38 1/4 a bushel.
