Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures closed lower on Thursday on technical selling and worries about uncertain demand for US supplies, given the trade war with China and prospects for large South American crops, traders said. CBOT November soyabeans settled down 14 cents at $8.61-1/2 per bushel, its largest one-day decline since August 1. Markets drew early support from news that China and the United States agreed to hold high-level talks in early October, raising hopes for a thaw in their trade dispute.

CBOT December soyameal ended down $4 at $294.50 per short ton and December soyaoil fell 0.35 cent to 28.64 cents per pound. Commodity brokerage INTL FCStone projected Brazil's 2019/20 soyabean crop at 121.41 million tonnes, up from 115.07 million in 2018/19 but below the USDA's current forecast of 123 million tonnes. INTL FCStone late Wednesday raised its forecast of the US 2019 soyabean yield to 48.3 bushels per acre, from 47.2 on Aug. 1. The firm put US soyabean production at 3.661 billion bushels, down from 3.743 billion previously, reflecting a smaller harvested acreage figure from last month.

A USDA attache report estimated China's 2019/20 soyabean imports at 80 million tonnes, below the USDA's official forecast of 85 million. Ahead of the US Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report on Friday, analysts expect the government to report weekly US soyabean sales at 50,000 to 700,000 tonnes (old and new crop years combined).

Copyright Reuters, 2019