With wide ranges through the early portion of Friday, soybeans are fractionally to 1 3/4 cents lower at midday. The President and First Lady tested positive for COVID-19 and began quarantining. Soymeal futures are higher at midday, adding $3.40 to $4.20/ton. Midday bean oil futures are down another 60 to 70 points. Chinese markets are closed for Golden Week. USDA reported a private export sale of 252,000 MT of soybeans to unknown. Weekly Export Sales data had soybean bookings from the week ending 9/24 at 2.591 MMT. Accumulated export commitments are 1.4 billion bushels, which is 169% above 2019/20 and 46% above the record 16/17 MY through the first 4 weeks. August crush was on the light side of expectations with 174.7 mbu. That brought the 2019/20 MY crush to 2.164 billion, compared to the Sept WASDE forecast of 2.180 bbu. Soybean oil stocks shrank 165 million lbs from July to August, ending the month at 1.958b lbs. Brazil reported Sept bean shipments at 4.47 MMT, which was down from 4.6 MMT in Sept ’19.

--- provided by Brugler Marketing & Management