The March contract settled down 1/2-cent at $8.95 a bushel. CBOT January soyameal fell $2.70 to $306.20 per short ton and January soyaoil rose 0.03 cent to 27.55 cents per pound. CBOT Soyabeans closed the year down 7.33 percent over 2017 - the second annual loss in two years, as export sales of the US oilseeds to China have plummeted in the wake of the US-China trade war.
Brokers and commodity funds spent Monday on squaring positions on the last trading day of the month, quarter and year, traders said. The USDA reported export inspections of US soyabeans in the latest week at 677,679 tonnes, below a range of trade expectations for 700,000 to 1.0 million tonnes.
US biodiesel production rose to 170 million gallons in October, from 163 million a month earlier, the US Energy Information Administration said. Soyabean oil remained the largest biodiesel feedstock, with 699 million lbs used in March. CBOT soyabean futures firmed on Monday in early moves after what US President Donald Trump over the weekend described as a "very good call" with China's President Xi Jinping.
However, traders remain cautious about the scale of Chinese buying, and shifted their focus to ample world supplies, as a partial shutdown of the US government has added to uncertainty by suspending daily and weekly export sales reports from the US Department of Agriculture.