Soybean futures were higher in early trading on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE).

The most active No. 1 soybean contract for September delivery gained 18 yuan (about 2.6 U.S. dollars) to open at 3,437 yuan per tonne.

China is the world’s largest soybean importer.

Soybean futures closed 13 to 14 1/4 cents lower.

Nearby July soybean meal was down $2.20/ton, with soy oil 58 points lower.

EPA proposed a biodiesel use of 2.45 billion gallons for 2020, unchanged from 2019. That was disappointing to soy oil, as most of the recent growth in demand for that byproduct has been in fuel use.

The latest Export Sales report from USDA showed 867,564 MT of soybeans sold in the week of June 27. That was a 13-week high, thanks to a large sale to China (a weekly total 607,328 MT), and 54.5% larger than the same week last year.

New crop sales totaled 161,500 MT. Soy meal sales totaled just 25,351 MT, a MY low, with soy oil at 19,735 MT.

USDA’s Ag attaché in China projects Chinese imports of soybeans in 19/20 will drop to 83 MMT, 4 MMT below the Official USDA number.