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Soybean futures led U.S. grains higher Thursday following strong weekly U.S. export sales that came in at the top end of analyst expectations.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported sales of 2.62M metric tons of soybeans for the 2024-25 marketing year, beating analysts forecasts and approaching the highest estimate, led by China with 870K tons.
The USDA also reported 2024-25 corn export sales of 1.51M tons and 532K metric tons of wheat export sales, near the high end of estimates.
“USDA export sales were very good for soybeans and corn,” Terry Reilly of futures and options broker Marex Group said, according to Dow Jones, adding that “the soybean complex and corn [also] are higher on short covering ahead of the long holiday weekend.”
On the Chicago Board of Trade, soybeans for November delivery (S_1:COM) settled +1.6% on the Chicago Board of Trade to $9.92 1/2 per bushel, corn (C_1:COM) for December delivery ended +1.3% to $3.96 per bushel, and December wheat (W_1:COM) finished +1.3% to $5.48 3/4 per bushel.
ETFs: (NYSEARCA:SOYB), (CORN), (WEAT), (DBA), (MOO)
Prices remain low even with the recent gains, so farmers may choose to store any unsold crop instead of selling it, which could push prices higher at a time when Chinese importers are looking to buy more to take advantage of low prices ahead of the U.S. election, Vinicius Ito, also of Marex, told Bloomberg.
“As the price has fallen a lot and China is buying, the US farmer may hold his soybeans and this would help firm up prices,” according to Ito.
