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US Biofuels Update: Fund-Selling Continues to Sink Soybean Futures

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Biofuels feedstock futures closed mixed on Wednesday, with soybean futures plummeting toward multi-month lows mid-week as traders show little concern about supplies, with mostly good weather to begin the 2026 growing season in the US.

The Chicago Board of Trade July soybean futures contract closed 0.971% lower at $11.54 per bushel, while the CBOT July soybean oil futures contract settled 0.38% higher at 78.71 cents per pound.

The Nymex July ethanol futures contract settled 1.25% lower on Tuesday at $1.97 per gallon.

Rhett Montgomery, a DTN analyst, said the soybean market continues to retreat after breaking below technical support at the 100-day moving average of about $11.67 per bushel on Tuesday, the first close below the level for July futures since Feb. 3.

"Sluggish demand recently on the export market and a good start to the 2026 growing season has been enough incentive for traders to sell, even with record strong crush demand amid record high premiums," Montgomery said.

The analyst added that soybean oil rose on energy influence.

Meanwhile, US weekly ethanol production rose for the week ending May 29, according to the US Energy Information Administration report on Wednesday.

For the week ending May 29, US ethanol production averaged 1.11 million barrels per day, above last week's 1.09 mmb/d and unchanged from last year's 1.11 mmb/d. Domestic ethanol inventories ended the week at 24.6 million barrels, below 25 mmbbls a week ago and 24.4 mmbbls a year ago.

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