Soybean contracts experienced losses ranging from 30 to 44 cents across most boards on Thursday, with the cmdtyView national average Cash Bean price dropping 44 cents to $11.20. Soymeal futures also declined by $7.20, while Soy Oil futures fell 108 points. This downturn occurred as May futures, expiring today, saw 80 deliveries against meal contracts and 41 against bean contracts overnight. Adding to market sentiment, a meeting between President Trump and China’s President Xi concluded in Beijing earlier today, though few specifics were released beyond Secretary Bessent’s assurance that “soybeans are all taken care of.”
In other market news, the USDA reported a private export sale of 252,000 metric tons (MT) of soybeans to unknown destinations, split between 120,000 MT for old crop and 132,000 MT for new crop. However, the weekly Export Sales report revealed a relatively low 102,059 MT in old crop bean business, falling short of analysts’ expectations of 100,000 to 500,000 MT. This marked a marketing year low for 2025/26 sales, down 28.1% from the prior week. Conversely, new crop business performed strongly, reaching 80,800 MT, which was at the higher end of the 0-100,000 MT estimated range. Soybean meal export sales totaled 347,762 MT, within the projected 150,000-500,000 MT range, while bean oil business saw a net reduction of 558 MT, aligning with estimates of net reductions between 2,000 MT and net sales of 12,000 MT.
Looking ahead, traders anticipate the NOPA data release on Friday, with expectations for April soybean crush volume around 214.03 million bushels and soybean oil stocks estimated at 1.954 billion pounds.
Internationally, the Rosario Grains Exchange increased its estimate for Argentina’s corn crop by 2 million MT to 50 million MT. Similarly, CONAB updated its 2025/26 Brazilian crop outlook, raising it by 0.98 million MT to 180.13 million MT.
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