Soybean Prices Slip Slightly on Thursday

Soybean Market Update: Prices and Export Highlights

Soybean futures experienced a decline of 5 to 6 cents on Thursday. The national average cash price for soybeans, as reported by cmdtyView, dropped by 5 3/4 cents to settle at $9.88. Soybean meal futures also retreated, falling between $1.10 and $2.70, while soybean oil futures saw gains of 11 to 21 points for the day.

USDA announced a private sale of 132,000 metric tons of soybeans to China earlier today.

Export Sales and Market Data

According to the USDA's latest Export Sales report, 877,914 metric tons of soybeans were sold for the week ending January 1, which was at the lower end of analyst expectations (ranging from 0.75 to 1.3 million metric tons for the 2025/26 season). Despite being a seven-week low, this figure was still significantly higher than the same period last year. China accounted for 470,100 metric tons of these sales, while Egypt purchased 173,200 metric tons.

Bookings for soybean meal reached 158,143 metric tons, falling within the projected range of 100,000 to 350,000 metric tons. Soybean oil sales totaled 24,874 metric tons, nearing the upper limit of the anticipated 0 to 30,000 metric tons.

October soybean exports, as reported by Census, amounted to 5.264 million metric tons (197.1 million bushels), representing a 43.05% decrease compared to the previous year and marking the lowest level since the 2008/09 marketing year. In contrast, soybean meal exports for October hit a record high of 1.393 million metric tons, up 5.7% from the prior month.

Upcoming Reports and Market Expectations

The next WASDE report is scheduled for release on Monday. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg anticipate that the monthly update will show U.S. soybean ending stocks for 2025/26 at 295 million bushels, reflecting a month-over-month increase of 5 million bushels.

Recent Soybean Closing Prices

• January 26 Soybeans closed at $10.47, down 5 3/4 cents
• Nearby Cash price settled at $9.88, down 5 3/4 cents
• March 26 Soybeans ended at $10.61 1/4, down 5 3/4 cents
• May 26 Soybeans finished at $10.73 1/4, down 5 1/2 cents