Soybean futures experienced significant declines on Monday, as prices fell between 8 to 11.5 cents across most contracts. The cmdtyView national average cash bean price closed at $10.23, representing a loss of 11.5 cents. In tandem, soymeal futures also reported losses ranging from 20 cents to $1.30, while soybean oil futures saw reductions of 34 to 51 points.
A report released by the USDA noted a private export sale of 132,000 metric tons of soybeans to China, highlighting continued international interest in U.S. soybeans despite the overall market downturn. The Export Inspections report further indicated that a total of 1.018 million metric tons (37.41 million bushels) of soybeans were shipped in the week ending on December 4th. This figure marked a 41.4% decrease compared to the same week last year, but it was a 10.6% increase from the previous week’s total.
Among the key buyers, Mexico emerged as the largest purchaser, importing 132,050 metric tons. Additionally, shipments included 119,895 metric tons sent to China and 91,171 metric tons to Indonesia. Cumulatively, the marketing year total now stands at 12.9 million metric tons (approximately 473.98 million bushels), which is 45.2% below the levels recorded during the same timeframe last year.
The USDA Export Sales backlog updated data for the week ending November 6, revealing that soybean bookings totaled 510,554 metric tons, positioning this number on the low end of estimates ranging from 450,000 metric tons to 1.6 million metric tons. This also represented a marketing year low, primarily attributed to low participation from buyers during a recent price rally, which included 232,000 metric tons sold to China for that week. Soybean meal sales stood at just 93,483 metric tons, also beneath expectations of between 50,000 to 400,000 metric tons, while bean oil sales reached 12,549 metric tons, meeting expectations of 5,000 to 25,000 metric tons.
Market analysts are awaiting updates from the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report scheduled for release on Tuesday. Traders are speculating that U.S. soybean ending stocks may rise to 306 million bushels, an increase of 16 million bushels from the previous month’s projections.
Recent data from China revealed that the country imported a total of 8.11 million metric tons of soybeans in November, reflecting a 14.5% decline from October. Meanwhile, estimates from AgRural indicate that the Brazilian soybean crop is currently 94% planted, slightly trailing the 95% pace observed at this time last year.
In the futures market, January 2026 soybeans closed at $10.93 ¾, down 11.5 cents, while nearby cash prices mirrored this decline. March 2026 soybeans ended at $11.05 ¾, losing 10.25 cents, and May 2026 soybeans closed at $11.16 ¾, dropping 8.75 cents.
