-- Biofuels feedstock futures closed mixed on Thursday, with soybean prices pressured by the possibility of US farmers planting more soybeans this year, with current planting progress way ahead of average.
The Chicago Board of Trade May soybean futures contract closed 0.34 lower at $11.60 per bushel, while the CBOT May soybean oil futures contract settled 0.07% higher at 71.73 cents per pound.
On Wednesday, the June ethanol futures contract on the Nymex ended 0.95% higher at $1.93 per gallon.
Rhett Montgomery, DTN analyst, said sellers showed up in the soybean market today, continuing Wednesday's bearish reversal.
"Bullish soybean traders are likely still holding out hope for an extension of old crop business when President Trump visits China next month, though the focus of that meeting at this point may be the 2026-27 campaign," Montgomery stated in a daily note.
Geopolitical news had little impact on the biofuel feedstock market on Thursday, with the US and Iran locked in a fight for control of the Strait of Hormuz. Crude oil futures have moved higher each session thus far this week.
On Thursday, the US Department of Agriculture's Weekly Export Sales Report showed that for the week ending April 16, soybean sales increased by 13.4 million bushels or 364,600 metric tons in 2025-26 and an increase of 0.2 mb or 5,000 mt for 2026-27.
Last week's export shipments of 28.2 mb were above the 18 mb needed each week to achieve USDA's export estimate of 1.54 bb in 2025-26.
Soybean export commitments now total about 1.42 bb in 2025-26 and are down 18% from a year ago. That is ahead of USDA's estimated pace, even as USDA's estimate of US ending soybean stocks is 20% above the previous five-year average.