Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures tumbled on the news, falling as much as 2.4 percent, 34-1/4 cents, to a low of $14.02-3/4 a bushel. At 11:30 am CST (1730 GMT), futures were down 1.9 percent, or 27 cents, at $14.10 per bushel. Prices in the US grain export market also fell sharply due to the cancellations, with basis bids sinking 10 to 18 cents per bushel for soyabeans shipped to terminals at the Gulf Coast.
By law, exporters must report promptly the sale of 100,000 tonnes or more of a commodity to the same destination in one day. Sales of smaller amounts are reported on a weekly basis. Traders said the cancellations were due to a likely bumper crop in Brazil, the world's second-largest soyabean exporter, where China could book supplies at much lower prices.
Agronomist Michael Cordonnier of Soybean and Corn Advisor consultancy said the weather in Brazil's soyabean areas have generally been favourable to the crop and that he expected the harvest to kick off by early January. Garrett Toay, risk management consultant at Toay Commodities Futures Group in Des Moines, Iowa, said China was likely cancelling extra US soyabeans it had purchased as insurance in the event of a poor crop in South America.
US soyabean export sales in the 2012/13 marketing year (September-August) totalled more than 30.3 million tonnes as of December 13 - nearly 83 percent of the USDA forecast of 36.61 million. The majority of the sales - almost 19 million tonnes or 62 percent - were to China. USDA data showed that 3.1 million tonnes were sold to "unknown destinations," and traders believe a sizable part of the amount was bought by China.