Soybean futures hovered around $11.70 per bushel, near a four-week low, as favorable growing conditions in the US Midwest outweighed renewed Chinese demand. China recently bought about 1 million metric tons of new-crop US soybeans, equivalent to roughly 14–16 cargoes, with the USDA confirming nearly 500,000 tons in export sales. State-backed buyers stepped in after last week’s price decline, and the purchases were also tied to Beijing’s pledge to boost US soybean imports ahead of President Xi Jinping’s anticipated visit to the United States in September.
While these deals lent some support to prices, they were not enough to offset increasingly bearish supply expectations. Market focus remains on crop development, with benign US weather during the key pod-filling phase sustaining strong yield prospects. In addition, diplomatic progress in the Middle East and the potential reopening of the Strait of Hormuz pushed crude oil prices lower, dampening biofuel demand and adding further pressure to soybean prices.
