Biofuel demand supports soybean, soyoil futures
Corn futures decline due to profit-taking and low export sales
Wheat futures rise after three sessions of losses
(Rewrites throughout with soybeans turning lower, adds quote, updates prices, changes byline, changes dateline from SINGAPORE/PARIS)
CHICAGO, Feb 26 (Reuters) – U.S. soybean futures rallied on Thursday to their highest since mid-2024 on hopes for more U.S. biofuel demand and Chinese imports before the market eased in a profit-taking retreat.
Corn futures also declined on profit-taking and technical selling, and as weekly corn export sales fell below trade expectations, while wheat firmed following three sessions of losses.
Chicago Board of Trade May soybeans were down 8-1/2 cents at $11.56-1/4 a bushel by 12:15 a.m. CST (1815 GMT) after the most-active contract rose to the highest point in 20 months. Soyoil futures rose for a fourth straight day and hit the highest level since mid-September 2023.
Both markets gained on news on Wednesday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would send its proposal for new biofuel blending mandates to the White House, with an expected rule to be finalised by the end of March. The move brings the market closer to ending recent uncertainty over demand for biofuels and feedstocks like soy.
A Reuters report on Thursday that the U.S. government plans to reallocate at least 50% of exempted biofuel blending obligations to big refiners, known as small refinery exemptions, or SREs, lent further support.
“If we have a reallocation of 50% of SREs, that is important and would mean that there’s going to be greater biofuel demand,” said Dan Basse, president of AgResource Co.
Questions about soybean demand from top importer China amid tariff uncertainty and ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trip to the country this spring kept the market on edge.
CBOT May wheat was up 3-3/4 cents at $5.73-1/2 a bushel after retreating from a three-month peak at the start of the week. May corn was down 1-1/4 cents at $4.40-3/4 a bushel, dipping from a 1-1/2-month high after weekly U.S. data showed a drop in export sales to the lowest in seven weeks.
(Additional reporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Gus Trompiz in Paris. Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Mark Potter, Philippa Fletcher)
