April 6, 2010

Soy futures weaken as Argentine supplies recover

US soy futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell on Monday (Apr 5), pressured by a likely record-large South American crop and Argentina's return to the export market after a dockworkers' strike, traders said.

Soy futures set back as last week's resolution of the Argentine strike put the world's No. 3 soy exporter back in business, easing demand for US soy supplies.

"Everything is a go with the Argentine port strike over, so with that crop available now, you would think we would go down," said Joe Bedore, CBOT floor spokesman for FC Stone.

Underscoring the shift in global soy exports from the US to South America, the USDA reported weekly export inspections of US soy at 16.245 million bushels, below trade estimates for 28 million to 32 million.

The soy market was still reeling from bearish US stocks data released by USDA last week. USDA showed US March 1 soy stocks at 1.27 billion bushels, down from a year ago but well above trade expectations.

The spread, or price differential, between old-crop July soy futures and new-crop November continued to weaken after wild gyrations last week.