While the Argentine crush is lagging, Brazilian processors have filled a little of the void in international supplies by meeting nearly 1.6Mt oil meal exports for the first three weeks of May.

US corn plantings have continued apace, offering clear passage thus far to expectations of a record harvest-23.

From the pointers we have so far, the Wasde looks poised to signal a downward trend for prices, as the US leads expansion in inventories among major soybean exporting countries.

Wheat speculators gross short holdings have, for the first time on data going back to 2006, reached a level equivalent to 50% of total open interest.

May’s recovery in vegetable oil prices, so far, contrasts with continued declines in crude oil, an important influence on prices of vegetable oils, which are used largely in making biodiesel. It also runs against the trend of 2023 which has seen prices of the likes of rapeseed oil and soyoil underperform those of Brent crude.

In Europe, the European Commission’s Mars bureau forecast this year’s EU soft wheat yield at an above-average 6t/hectare, while in the US, rains in the southern Plains have boosted expectations of a recovery in the drought- pressed hard red winter wheat crop.