According to the weekly USDA Crop Progress report for the week ending June 23, US soybean planting progressed by just 3%, bringing the total to 96% complete, lagging the five-year average of 97%. Emergence reached 90%, in line with the average pace, while 8% of the crop was blooming, slightly ahead of the 7% average. Traders were expecting improved crop conditions, but USDA data showed stable ratings at 66% good/excellent. The Brugler500 index was also unchanged at 367.

USDA reported soybean export shipments at just 192,890 MT (7.09 million bushels) for the week ending June 19, marking a marketing year low. This was down 13.7% from the previous week and 44.9% below the same week last year. Out of this total, only 63,382 MT went to Germany, while 558,883 MT was destined for Mexico. Total marketing year exports have reached 45.62 MMT (1.676 billion bushels), 10.6% higher than the same period last year.

Commitment of Traders data showed that soybean speculators increased their net long position by 33,526 contracts during the week ending June 17. Their total net long position was 59,165 contracts as of June 17.