U.S. Grains: Soy Falls As Cooking Oil Imports Excluded From China Tariffs

Corn futures followed soybeans down, while wheat Wv1 fell after reaching a 10-month high on worries about frosts in wheat-producing regions of Russia.

The Biden administration announced tariff increases on an array of Chinese imports. A White House list did not include Chinese used cooking oil, contrary to rumors that previously drove soy futures higher. Analysts had said tariffs on imports could boost usage of U.S. soyoil to make renewable fuels.

“Markets are disappointed; trade groups are disappointed,” said Susan Stroud, founder of NoBullAg.com.

But Stroud added that “it was nothing but rumors to start with.”

The most-active CBOT July soybean contract SN24 fell 5 cents to end at $12.14-1/2 a bushel. Soyoil futures dropped 1.75 cents to 43.40 cents per pound.

In Brazil, where heavy flooding hit the soybean and corn-producing Rio Grande do Sul state, local crop agency Conab raised its soybean production estimate from April. Brazil is the world’s biggest soybean exporter.

On Wednesday, a monthly National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) report is expected to show U.S. soybean processing slowed in April from a record crush the previous month, analysts said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday said the pace of U.S. soybean planting was slightly ahead of the five-year average, while corn planting was running behind average.

The USDA kept U.S. winter wheat conditions at a four-year high, with 50 per cent of the crop rated good to excellent compared to 29 per cent a year earlier, when drought slashed harvests.