Funds flirt with record meal short as US soy crush booms

Published Dec 4, 2024

Tridge summary

Speculators have increased their bearish positions on Chicago-traded soybean meal due to expectations of record global output, with money managers nearing a record net short position last seen in February 2020. This trend is driven by ample U.S. supplies and anticipated record crops in Brazil and Argentina. While soybean futures have seen slight gains, soybean oil futures have declined as money managers reduce bullish positions. Corn futures remain strong due to robust U.S. demand, whereas wheat futures are bearish because of plentiful Russian supplies. Traders are closely watching South American weather and U.S. export demand as President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration approaches.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

Speculators have approached all-time bearish bets in Chicago-traded soybean meal with global output seen surging to new highs over the next year. In the week ended Nov. 26, money managers expanded their net short in CBOT soymeal futures and options to 75,416 contracts from 63,700 a week earlier. That came despite fractional gains in meal futures. The new meal net short is less than 2,000 contracts away from February 2020’s record, and it is a complete flip from a year ago when funds’ bullishness was at a near-record high. Expanding U.S. soybean processing capacity has kept domestic meal supplies ample. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday confirmed that October soybean crush reached an all-time monthly high. Record crop expectations in Brazil and a favorable start for top meal exporter Argentina have also weighed on soybean and soybean meal prices in recent sessions. January CBOT meal futures SMF25 narrowly avoided new lows on Monday, but posted a contract-low close of ...

Source: Hellenic Shipping News