Ram Gopal Yadav

A delegation of commodity importers from China, the world top buyer of soybeans, signed agreements to buy 12.53 million tonnes of the US crop, the second largest deal between the two countries. The previous record was a 13.18 million-tonne agreement signed in 2015. The non-binding deal was signed at a ceremony in Des Moines, Iowa. The US Agriculture Department expects China to import 93 million tonnes of soybeans in the 2017/18 marketing year, up from 89 million in 2016/17. Total US soybean exports are pegged at 58.51 million tonnes, up from 55.79 million tonnes a year earlier. China has become a strong importer of soybeans due to rising consumption of both poultry and livestock.

Soybean contracts fell on the CBOT due to an USDA report which was upbeat on the global soybean output in 2017-18. The most-active August contract in the electronic trade on the CBOT traded at 10.0350 per bushel, down 1.8% from the previous close. The US agency has raised its estimate for global production of soybean in 2017-18 to 345.09 million tonne, up 420,000 tonne from its projection in June.

Futures contracts of soybean fell over 1% on the NCDEX, taking cues from a fall in prices in major spot markets. The most-active August contract of soybean was down 1.3% from the previous close. The current month contract also traded 1.2% lower. With the southwest monsoon reviving over Madhya Pradesh, expectations of improved sowing in the coming days have pulled down prices in the state.

The NCDEX has marked 3,450 tonne of soybean for staggered delivery in the July contract, which will expire next Thursday. Staggered delivery is used to check any artificial rise in prices. Under this mechanism, sellers can indicate intention of delivery to the exchange during the tender period, currently a 10-day span before the contract expires.