Soybean prices continued their losses on Monday. In Chicago, March futures fell by 13.50 US cents to 1,049.00 US cents/bushel, while May closed at 1,061.75 US cents/bushel, losing 12.75 US cents. The front month of January fell particularly sharply by 15.50 US cents. The main reason for this was a significant increase in US ending stocks, according to the WASDE report. Coarse meal also fell by US$ 5.40 to US$ 298.30/short ton.
Although the average yield remained at 53 bushels/acre, slightly higher harvested areas led to an increase in production to 4.262 billion bushels. At the same time, the USDA lowered export expectations by 60 million bushels, causing ending stocks to rise by a total of 60 million bushels to 350 million bushels. At 3.29 billion bushels, inventories as at December 1 were also above analysts' estimates and 190 million bushels higher than in the previous year.
Internationally, an increase in the Brazilian harvest estimate by 3 million tons to 178 million tons caused further pressure. AgRural reported an initial harvest progress of 0.6 percent by Thursday.
Weakness also continued in the oil complex: Winnipeg March canola lost Can-$2.90 to Can-$620.80/ton. Although Canadian exports recently rose to 147,800 tons, at 2.8 million tons so far they remain well below the previous year's level of 4.7 million tons. In Paris, the February rapeseed contract fell by €2.75 after the recent rally and closed at €468.25/t.
