Soybeans Q&A
From a client in Central Missouri:
"Good afternoon, Roger,
What are your thoughts on why the bean market sold off this past week? Should a guy be concerned moving forward? Corn market going to stay in a sideways trend the next month? Thanks"
Thanksgiving week market action is so distorted it is difficult to get a good handle on the technical and fundamental situation. As far as Friday’s market action goes, the probability of rain was increased for the dry areas and less rain for the wet areas of Brazil. There was some political garbage going around that demand for vegetable oil for biodiesel might be reduced.
January beans settled 58¾¢ from the high for the week, but just down 9½¢ from last Friday. November beans were down 3¢ on the week.
Longer term, the weather in Brazil is really all that matters for 8 more weeks. Brazil’s bean crop is made between December 15 and January 31. By January 15th, the market will know the current crop condition, soil moisture, and the 14-day weather forecast. Those three factors will provide a pretty clear picture of what the crop is going to produce. Usually, the crop is in normal condition with a normal weather forecast, which means normal yields, and so the weather risk comes out of the soybean futures.