Spot market trading was dull Wednesday in light of the annual American Fats and Oils Association Conference in Nashville. Soybean oil futures eased further at midweek on additional profit-taking. The most widely traded soybean oil futures contract in Chicago closed below 55 cents per pound, at 54.86 cents per pound, down 49 basis points per pound, or 0.9 percent.

Soybean oil and other feedstock markets have been under pressure over the last few weeks. Demand in the U.S. interior from the biodiesel and renewable diesel sectors has been subdued because many of them extended coverage through the end of the fourth quarter and into the first quarter, and biofuels margins have been poor.

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