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US Biofuels Update: Soybean Futures Claw Back From Double-Digit Lows to End Higher

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Biofuels feedstock futures closed mixed on Thursday, with soybean prices staying above $13.

The Chicago Board of Trade November soybean futures contract closed 0.46 higher at $13.16 per bushel, while the CBOT October soybean oil futures contract settled 1.43% lower at 69.63 cents per pound.

The Nymex October ethanol futures contract settled 0.48% higher on Wednesday at $2.08 per gallon.

Rhett Montgomery, a DTN analyst, said soybeans led the way, with traders penciling in lighter yields as the end-stage growing-season weather has been less than ideal for pod filling in many areas.

"Soybean futures traded as much as 20 cents lower at one point early Thursday before climbing back after another strong round of export data mixed with bullish supply thoughts amid a hot and dry finish to the US growing season," the analyst said.

He added that the market remains "well overbought" and may be subject to "bursts of profit-taking, though dips thus far have been met with enthusiastic buying."

The US Department of Agriculture reported sales of 192,000 metric tons of soybeans on Thursday for delivery to China during the 2026/2027 marketing year.

For the week ending Aug. 27, 2026, the USDA reported a decrease of 3.5 million bushels or 94,200 mt of soybean export sales in 2025-26 and an increase of 71.6 mb or 1,948,400 mt for 2026-27.

Last week's export shipments of 11.5 mb were below the 22.1 mb needed each week to achieve USDA's export estimate of 1.520 bb in 2025-26.

Soybean export commitments now total 1.538 bb for 2025-26, down 18% from a year ago. That is slightly ahead of USDA's estimated pace, even as its estimate of US ending soybean stocks is 11% larger than the previous five-year average.

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