May 7, 2010

Soy futures in CBOT dropped to its four-week low on Thursday (May 6), pressured by negative outside markets.

The most active soy contract for July delivery fell US$0.24 to US$9.54 a bushel, touching the weakest level of 9.505 since April 7.

Traders said that the lower crude oil, which dropped below US$77 a barrel in the past three days, helped to spark the late weakness along with continued strength in the dollar.

The dollar soared for the third consecutive session and the rate against euro touched as high as 1.2633, the peak level in 14 months.

A strong dollar usually is considered as a negative factor to soy futures as dollar's appreciation makes US commodities' export price higher, reducing soy's competitiveness on international markets.

Corn and wheat both ended lower. Export sales have been better with the July corn losing only US$0.0175 to US$3.7125 a bushel. July wheat was down US$0.0375, closing at US$5.0825 a bushel.