Soybean futures settle lower despite dollar's plunge

Soybean futures tilted lower despite dollar's tumble away from the highest since July 26 for the third consecutive session, amid a lack of data from the US, the world's largest soybean producer and exporter, and after Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari's opening remarks at the Regional Economic Conditions Conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

As of 08:08 GMT, soybean futures due on November 15 shed 0.08% to $9.6600 from the opening of $9.6675, as the dollar index tumbled 0.41% to 93.29 from the opening of 93.68. 

Last week, the US Department of Agriculture reported strong soybean sales in the third week of the new marketing year starting this month at 2.98 million metric tonnes, besting expectations of 1.5 to 2.0 million. 

China came at the top as usual at 1.4 million tonnes, followed by unknown buyers at 1 million, then Mexico at 200.9 thousand, then Thailand and Taiwan at 141.6 thousand and 65.5 thousand respectively. 

Otherwise, the US Department of Agriculture's September report released last month showed soybean inventories unchanged in the agriculture year of 2017/2018 at 475 million bushels, compared to market expectations of 442 million bushels. 

The USDA raised its productivity forecasts by half a bushel to 49.9 bushels per donam, compared to expectations of 48.4 bushels, with the departments projecting total output at 4.431 billion bushels, compared to 4.381 billion in previous forecasts.

We should note that the USDA report said that grain projections for the current month don't reflect the impact of the floods and hurricanes that hit the US recently, adding that the Department will make surveys in the affected areas to include the damages in the October report.