Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures closed lower on Tuesday, with the benchmark November contract posting a six-week low on expectations for a record-large US soya harvest and questions about demand prospects, traders said. CBOT November soya settled down 15 cents at $8.33-1/4 per bushel after dipping to $8.33, its lowest since hitting a contract low at $8.26-1/4 on July 16.

CBOT December soyameal ended down $5.90 at 304.70 per short ton while other months, including September 2018 and May 2019, hit contract lows. CBOT December soyaoil ended up 0.19 cent at 28.33 cents per pound.

Traders still digesting Pro Farmer's forecast last week for a record-large US soyabean harvest totaling 4.683 billion bushels, topping the US Department of Agriculture's forecast for 4.586 billion. Soyabeans and soyameal pressured by worries that outbreaks of African swine fever in China's hog herd could curb feed demand.

The USDA said private exporters sold 198,862 tonnes of US soyameal to Mexico including 146,781 tonnes for delivery in the 2018/19 marketing year and 52,081 tonnes for 2019/20. The USDA late on Monday rated 66 percent of the soyabean crop as good to excellent, up from 65 percent the previous week. Analysts on average had expected no change.

A Farm Futures survey of US planting intentions for 2019 indicated producers expect to plant more corn in the coming crop year while scaling back on soyabeans.

Copyright Reuters, 2018