Afternoon Soybeans: Beans closed higher on the week but it sure didn\'t feel great.
<div class=\"default-font-wrapper\" style=\"line-height: 1;font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;\"><div style=\"line-height: 1;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;\">The soybean market saw follow through pressure to conclude what had been an encouraging week of recovery until flat price and the spreads collapsed yesterday. November beans settled 8.5 cents lower on the day while for the week we still managed to gain nearly 18 cents. The Nov-Jan bull spread settled a penny lower after yesterday’s blow off reversal trade but the spread also found some buying interest and settled 2.25 cents off the day’s low. <br><br>South American weather remains favorable for planting and early development after a delayed start to the rainy season. Argentina’s forecast goes mostly dry for the coming week before rains return periodically in the first week of November. Brazil is expecting a good mix of rain and sunshine for most of the nation’s key agricultural areas for the next ten days. The far south is expected to dry down for the coming week before timely rain is expected to return during the first week of November.<br> <br>November options went off the board quietly with today’s expiration. SX futures settled at $9.87 ¾. There were 8.8k of the $9.90 puts open to start the day and 4.2k of the calls. First notice on November futures is next Thursday. There are currently 232 deliverable bean receipts registered with the exchange.<br> <br>In the product trade, bean oil settled slightly lower as the chart flirts with a breakout above the October highs. The market has had support from palm oil and global biodiesel headlines this week but the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the US 45Z biodiesel policy is a drag. The global veg oil trade was mixed and featured a 1.4% drop in palm oil as it reversed out of a new contract high. Bean oil was unable to capitalize on the oil share spreading that rallied to a 3.5 month high nor was it able to tag along with the firmer energy trade. The feature trade was in meal where flat price followed the bull spread collapse and broke down to a two-month lower where it is taking aim at a test of contract lows. The price action in meal reflects the recent slowdown in export sales due to our uncompetitive price structure to the world market as well as fund liquidation. Board crush margins settled 4 cents lower to $1.71/bushel. <br> <br>Elsewhere in the news, Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) will idle its Des Moines, IA, soybean crush plant from mid-October through November for maintenance.<br> <br>The USDA reported private sales of 116 tmt of beans to China.<br> <br>Brazil soybean planting in Rio Grande do Sul reached 3% according to Emater. The forecast soybean production in the state to reached 21.6 mmt, an 18.6% increase from a year ago.<br> <br>Chinese ag officials on Friday said the country's grain production this year is expected to exceed 700 mln mt, that's up +0.7% over last year's output. Despite the increase, the country remains highly reliant on Brazil and the US for soybean imports, and acknowledges corn planting is still falling short of government expectations.<br> <br>China's agriculture ministry on Friday announced a nationwide "smart agriculture action plan". The plan includes "big data" on rural activities. They say the plan will enhance major crops' yields, and shift the entire agricultural industry chain to a digital platform. They are expecting the transformation to be operational by 2028.<br> <br>CFO of food giant, Danone, said they've halted purchases of Brazil soybeans, instead opting for soybeans sourced from Asia. At the end of this year, the EU had planned a rule for food companies to prove their inputs were not sources from deforested land, but that rule was recently shelved for another 12 months. The CFO did not provide where exactly in Asia they're sourcing soybeans, according to the reuters report.<br> <br>Strategie Grains lowered their EU 2024 sunflower seed production forecast to 8.8 mln mt off -100,000 mt from the previous outlook. The 2024 figure is also 11% less than last year's production.<br> <br>Soybean Basis: <br>Location Spot <br>US Gulf up 5 to +150 <br>Cedar Rapids, IA steady -25x <br>Mankato, MN steady +15x <br>Decatur, IL steady +10x <br>Decatur, IN steady -20x <br>Columbus, OH steady -40x </span></div></div>