- It has today been confirmed that China will start selling soybeans from reserves by selling 100,000 mt each week until the end of 2016. If all the tonnage is sold this will make some 3.8 million mt available to the market, well within the 1.5-5 million mt target set by the Chinese government. According to our information these sales will NOT be rotated or replaced as has been the case in previous years, this is being reported as a reduction in stock levels. That said, it is suggested that the soybeans being sold are three (or more) years old and not up to food grade specification. Clearly, if the information received is correct (and given history, this is not a given) it will impact imports.
- In a surprise announcement the acting speaker of the lower house of Brazil’s Congress has annulled the impeachment process against President Rousseff, which resulted in a 2% drop in the Brazilian Real today. The final impact of the process is unclear as it is the first time such a process has been undertaken.
- As a weather aside, whilst April saw a weakening of the current El Niño it remains the fourth strongest on record and is expected to continue to exert an influence on climatic conditions until mid to late summer.
- Tomorrow sees the publication of the latest WASDE report which is expected to see a bearish stance as far as wheat and corn is concerned, also potentially for old crop soybeans. A complete turnaround by the funds on soybeans would not be anticipated until some time in June when the state of the weather and drought or otherwise in the US is better known.