Forexpros – Soybean futures were down for down for a third day on Tuesday, hovering close to the previous session’s one-year low as a combination of easing concerns over U.S. crop conditions and fears over a slowdown in global demand continued to weigh on prices.
On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, soybean futures for November delivery traded at USD11.6912 a bushel during European morning trade, slumping 0.7%.
It earlier fell as much as 0.88% to trade at a daily low of USD11.6862 a bushel, hovering close to Monday’s one-year low of USD11.6200 a bushel.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its weekly crop progress report published after markets closed Monday that the amount of U.S. soybean crops harvested as of October 3 rose to 19% from 5% in the preceding week.
In top grower Iowa, nearly 21% of the crop was harvested, compared to just 3% a week earlier.
The USDA report showed that nearly 54% of the U.S. soybean crop was rated in ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ condition, up from 53% in the preceding week, while only 5% of the crop was rated ‘very poor’.
The U.S. is both the world’s largest soybean producing nation and the world’s largest exporter of the grain.
Soybean prices came under additional pressure as fears over an imminent Greek default remained after euro zone finance ministers postponed a decision on the release of Greece’s next tranche of bailout funds until a meeting on October 17.
Adding to global concerns, Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs lowered its 2012 growth forecast for China to 8.6% from a previous estimate of 9.2%, citing “slowing external conditions and weak private residential investment.”
China is the world’s largest soybean consumer and is expected to account for nearly 60% of global trade of the grain in the 2011-12 season, according to the USDA.
Goldman also cut its 2012 soybean price forecast by 7% to USD13.00 a bushel, citing increased global supplies and sluggish demand prospects.
In the short-term, the bank expects soybean prices to average USD12.60 a bushel over the next three months, down from a previous estimate of USD14.35 a bushel.
Elsewhere on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, corn for December delivery tumbled 1.51% to trade at USD5.8325 a bushel, while wheat for December delivery dropped 1.38% to trade at USD6.1088 a bushel.
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