CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures closed mostly lower on Wednesday as favorable weather in the US crop belt continued to bolster expectations for a large harvest, traders said.

CBOT August soybean futures settled down 5-1/4 cents at $8.91-1/2 per bushel while the most-active November contract ended down 2-1/4 cents at $8.85-1/4.

Several thinly traded deferred soybean contracts settled modestly higher.

CBOT December soymeal ended down $1.70 at $295.80 per short ton while December soyoil rose 0.14 cent to 30.06 cents per pound, gaining against soymeal on oil/meal spreading.

Stress from dryness should be limited to only about 15% of the US Midwest corn and soybean belt over the next couple of weeks, the Commodity Weather Group said in a client note.

Rabobank on Tuesday projected Brazil's farmers would plant a record-high 38 million hectares of soybeans for the 2020/21 season, producing a crop of 127.3 million tonnes.

Ahead of Thursday's weekly US Department of Agriculture export sales report, traders expected the government to report US soybean sales in the week ended July 23 at 1.8 million to 2.5 million tonnes.