Soybean futures are down 9 to 10 cents at midday. Meal futures are down $1.60/ton in the nearby contracts, with soy oil 53 points lower. A private export sale of 120,000 MT of soy meal was reported to Ecuador this morning, with the delivery split for 18/19 (60,000 MT) and 19/20 (60,000 MT). Soybean shipments in the week that ended Feb 7 totaled 1.064 MMT, with 487,450 MT headed to China. That was down a slight 2.64% from last week and 20.58% below this time last year. On Friday, WAOB trimmed the 18/19 US use total by a net 15 mbu, thanks to a 25 mbu reduction to export that was partially offset by 10 mbu larger crush. USDA also narrowed the estimated average farm price range by 50 cents, with a mid-point remaining at $8.60 compared to $9.33 last year. AgRural estimates that Brazil’s soybean harvest is 26% complete, vs. the 12% average. They also slashed their production estimate by 4.4 MMT to 112.5 MMT, vs. the latest USDA estimate of 117 MMT.

--provided by Brugler Marketing & Management