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US Biofuels Update: Profit-Taking Sinks Soybean Futures, Soybean Oil Futures Diverge

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-- Biofuels feedstock futures closed mixed on Tuesday, with the overall trading theme being profit-taking amid a Crop Progress Report that showed few surprises.

The Chicago Board of Trade July soybean futures contract closed 0.92% lower at $12.11 per bushel, while the CBOT July soybean oil futures contract settled 0.50% higher at 76.91 cents per pound.

On Monday, the June ethanol futures contract on the Nymex ended 0.73% lower at $2.05 per gallon.

Broadly, US officials played down Iran's strikes on US warships.

Rhett Montgomery, DTN analyst, said the soybean market fell from six-week highs set on Monday, as traders looked to book profits on recent long positions.

"In product markets, soybean oil futures moved higher for an incredible ninth straight session, ignoring lower energy markets," Montgomery said in a daily note.

He added that the soybean market is entering a potentially pivotal month in May, "with noncommercial traders in the soybean complex (soybeans, meal, oil) carrying a net-long position in futures of over 500,000 contracts as of last Tuesday, which is just below the all-time record set in late 2020."

Meanwhile, the US Department of Agriculture reported Monday that 33% of the US soybean crop is planted as of May 3, still notably ahead of the average five-year pace for early May, and moderately ahead of this point in 2025. 13% of the crop has emerged.

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