Biofuels feedstock futures closed lower on Wednesday, as traders grew more confident that the US crop yield potential is still favorable despite concerning weather in July.
The Chicago Board of Trade November soybean futures contract closed 0.25% lower at $11.74 3/4 per bushel, while the CBOT September soybean oil futures contract settled 0.70% lower at 67.72 cents per pound.
The Nymex September ethanol futures contract settled 1.02% lower on Tuesday at $1.95 per gallon.
Rhett Montgomery, a DTN analyst, said that traders are taking note that the forecast to mid-August features rainfall across much of the US Corn Belt.
"The soybean market remained under pressure on Wednesday, with the November contract down for the fifth time in the past six sessions, with bullish momentum capped by rainfall optimism through early August for the heart of the US soybean belt," Montgomery said.
StoneX, a private analyst firm, forecast a 53 bushels per acre average soybean yield for the US this fall in its survey results. This is directly in line with USDA's weather-adjusted trend forecast used in the May through July World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates reports.
The US Department of Agriculture on Wednesday announced sales of 120,000 metric tons of corn for delivery to Mexico. Of the total, 30,000 mt are for delivery during the 2026/2027 marketing year, and 90,000 mt are for delivery during the 2027/2028 marketing year.
On Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration reported that for the week ending July 31, US ethanol production averaged 1.11 million barrels per day, below last week's 1.13 mmb/d and above last year's 1.08 mmb/d.
Domestic ethanol inventories ended the week at 24.5 million barrels, down from 24.7 mmbbls a week ago and above 23.8 mmbbls a year ago.