Soybeans are up 5 to 7 cents so far on Christmas Eve. Futures slipped lower into the Tuesday close with contracts down 1 to 2 cents in the front months. Open interest was down 9,511 contracts on Tuesday, mostly in the January (-20,552 contracts), with other front months rising. The cmdtyView national average Cash Bean price was 3 cents lower at $9.80 3/4. Soymeal futures posted gains of $1.10 to $2.50 on Tuesday, with Soy Oil futures slipping back 25 to 39 points lower. The markets will close early on today and remain closed for Christmas on Thursday with a hard open at 8:30 am CST on Friday.
Commitment of Traders data from Tuesday afternoon showed managed money cutting back another 32,560 contracts from their net long position in the week ending on 12/16 to 147,778 contracts.
USDA’s second release of Export Sales data this week showed soybean sales in the week of December 11 at 2.396 MMT. That was a marketing year high, the largest in over a year, 68.3% larger than the same week last year. China was the buyer of 1.38 MMT in that week, with the total known sales to China at 6.2 MMT, including the daily sales from the last couple weeks.
Soy meal sales exceeded trade estimates at 616,453 MT, with bean oil sales at 8,660 MT.
Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $10.51 1/2, down 1 3/4 cents, currently up 5 1/2 cents
Nearby Cash was $9.80 3/4, down 3 cents,
Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $10.63 3/4, down 1 1/4 cents, currently up 6 1/2 cents
May 26 Soybeans closed at $10.74 1/4, down 1 1/4 cents, currently up 7 cents
