Soybean futures are trading 1 to 2 cents higher ahead of the USDA reports this morning. They were down 6 1/4 to 8 1/2 cents per bushel by the close on long liquidation. Preliminary open interest dropped 8,768 contracts for the session. Meal futures were down $3.50/ton in the nearby contracts, with soy oil 9 points lower. The weekly Export Sales report indicated 1.051 MMT of soybeans were sold in the week of December 27. That was down 56% from the preceding non-holiday week as you would expect, but 121.4% larger than the same week last year. China purchased 808,000 MT in that week. The average trade estimate for 18/19 US soybean ending stocks in today’s WASDE release is 926 mbu, which is down 29 mbu from the December report. Analysts estimate Brazil’s soybean crop at 116.99 MMT on average, a drop of 5 MMT from the December report if realized.

--provided by Brugler Marketing & Management