Been watching the soybean market news pretty closely this week and the action on Thursday was pretty solid. Front month beans jumped 11 to 13 cents, with November contracts up almost 6 cents. Cash prices hit $10.72, and that's after picking up over 13 cents. Soy meal was the real mover though - up $4 to $4.70, while bean oil actually pulled back 40-47 points. Interesting divergence there.

What's catching traders' attention is the export flow. USDA reported a decent 108k MT sale to Egypt in the morning, and when you look at the weekly export data, China grabbed 286k MT total - though they switched 201k MT from unknown sources. Egypt also came in heavy at 167k MT. Weekly sales came to just under 282k MT of soybeans, which was down from the prior week but still running 141% above year-ago levels. The soybean market news on meal sales hit 357k MT, right in the middle of expectations.

On the supply side, Brazil's looking at 178 MMT for the season - up 1.86 MMT from their last estimate. Argentina's holding steady at 48.5 MMT, but here's the concern: their crop ratings dropped from 40% good/excellent to 32%. That's an 8% slide week-over-week, which could tighten things up. Throw in the US-China trade truce talks supposedly happening in April, and you've got a lot of moving pieces in the soybean market right now. Contracts closed with March at $11.37, May at $11.52, and July at $11.63.