Soybean Sales Fall Off Cliff
China continues to load out shipments at a furious pace, but new buying slows to a standstill.
Bryce Knorr
Published: Dec 16, 2010
Though millions of bushels of U.S. soybeans continue to steam towards Chinese ports, new purchases by the world’s largest soy importer slowed dramatically last week, according to data released this morning by USDA.
Net new purchases of soybeans fell to 6.4 million bushels, with China cancelling 7 million bushels and most of its buying done through switches from sales previously reported as unknown destinations. The weekly total to all locations was the lowest since August 2009.
Soybean processors in China began trying to delay shipments recently, their profit margins squeezed by ample inventories and government price controls on products aimed at curbing inflation.
While new purchases of soybeans ground to a halt, export shipments in the latest week totaled 49.5 million bushels, with two-thirds of that headed to China.
Today’s bean news overshadowed better numbers for corn and wheat. Wheat sales totaled 35.8 million bushels, well above trade guesses and the weekly rate needed to meet USDA’s forecast for the marketing year. Buyers from Asia, Africa and the Americas showed up taking multiple loads, with hard wheat accounting for most of the business. USDA also today confirmed the sale of hard red winter wheat reported to Jordan yesterday.
Corn sales came in just under 35 million bushels, in line with trade guesses. Mexico and Japan led the list of buyers, though shipments remained a little slow.
For the complete export report, click here.
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Weekly Export Sales (million bushels)
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AS OF WEEK ENDING
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12/9/10
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Actual
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Last Week
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Trade Est.
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USDA F'cast
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Export Ship-ments
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USDA F'cast
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% of USDA Commit.
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Ave.
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% of USDA Ship-ments
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Ave.
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Wheat
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35.8
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26.7
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20.2
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14.3
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33.1
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28.1
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64%
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67%
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48%
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51%
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Corn
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34.7
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31.8
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33.5
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26.6
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31.9
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38.5
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45%
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47%
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24%
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28%
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Soybeans
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6.4
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32.0
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26.6
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14.5
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49.5
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23.2
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72%
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60%
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40%
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35%
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Source: USDA, Reuters
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Tagged: usda, wheat, soybeans, soybean, winter wheat
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