US soyabean export sales hit a marketing-year low last week, the US Department of Agriculture said on Friday in a report that revealed China and other importers will take crops previously listed as sold to undisclosed buyers. The relabeling of destinations for shipments previously earmarked "unknown" surprised traders who had expected China, the world's top soyabean buyer, to make bigger new purchases in the latest week. The switching also pressured futures prices.

Exporters in the week ended December 29 struck deals to sell just 87,500 tonnes of US soyabeans for delivery in the 2016/2017 marketing year, which ends on September 1, according to the USDA. That was down 91 percent from the previous week and 94 percent from the prior four-week average. Traders had expected sales in the week at 800,000 to 1.2 million tonnes.

China bought 641,500 tonnes, according to the USDA. However, the total included 626,000 tonnes that had previously been labelled as sold to "unknown destinations," meaning the purchases were not new business. Other buyers, including Indonesia, Vietnam and Spain, also each said they would take delivery of US soyabeans that had previously been earmarked for unknown destinations. January soyabean futures were down 17-1/4 cents at $9.86-1/4 a bushel at the Chicago Board of Trade.

Copyright Reuters, 2017