Soybeans fall on harvest pressure, fund liquidation, demand questions

By P.J. Huffstutter

CHICAGO, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures fell on Thursday on fund liquidation and market expectations that the soybean crush in August likely dropped, traders said.

Supply pressure from the harvest of what is expected to be a record-large US crop also cast a pall over soybean prices, along with concerns about export demand, market analysts said.

A wet late summer and early autumn have slowed the harvest pace, but the new supplies are still weighing on prices and shifting traders' focus from weather-related crop quality problems, said Jack Scoville, vice president at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

CBOT wheat closed higher in choppy trading, as a small US crop and a large import tender announced by Saudi Arabia helped bolster prices. Earlier in the session, the most-active CBOT wheat contract on a continuous basis touched $6.70-3/4 a bushel, the contract's lowest price since August 14.

CBOT corn futures ended the session higher on a spurt of technical buying, after traders spent much of the day continuing to process a surprising US stocks report. US farmers and grain handlers had 35% more corn in storage on September 1 than a year earlier, the US Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday, a bigger-than-expected increase.

The most-active CBOT soybean contract settled down 9 cents at $12.84 per bushel. Earlier in the session, the contract dipped to $12.73-3/4, the lowest since August 28.

CBOT corn ended up 1-1/2 cents at $5.02-1/4 a bushel, after earlier touching $4.95 a bushel — the lowest price since August 19. CBOT wheat futures closed 7 cents higher at $6.82-3/4 per bushel.

Concern about a slowing pace of the US soybean crush added pressure to soybean futures during the session, traders said. The USDA reported after the market closed that US soybean processors crushed 209.6 million bushels of soybeans in August, below an average of trade estimates.