November Soybeans finished down 70 at 922, 61 off the high and equal to the low. January Soybeans closed down 70 at 938 1/2. This was equal to the low and 58 off the high.

December Soymeal closed down 19.9 at 249.9. This was 0.1 up from the low and 18.7 off the high.

December Soybean Oil finished down 2.5 at 40, 2.23 off the high and equal to the low.

The sharply lower open touched limit down in the November contract in the early going. This was followed by a modest bounce by soybeans and the products into mid session. Buying was scattered and light and both soybeans and oil returned to limit down by early afternoon before closing at those levels. Funds were sellers of at least 4000 contracts in soybeans, 2000 contracts in oil and about 1000 contracts in meal in what traders and analysts said was a general liquidation by investors in most markets other than gold and the dollar due to a worldwide fear of deflation. The five largest index funds are now down by about 8-17% on the year. While they have declined for a number of months, most of the move into negative territory has come during October. Light scattered rain fell in parts of the soybean belt over the weekend with rains expected to move from west to east across the major growing areas tomorrow and Wednesday. This week's export inspections were 12.2 million bushels, up substantially from recent weeks. It is early in the marketing year, but inspections need to average 20.3 million bushels each week to reach the USDA export projection for the year. The USDA announced a sale of 185,000 tonnes of soybeans to an unknown destination this morning. Delivery is for the 2008/09 crop year. Taiwan is tendering tomorrow for 60,000 tonnes of US soybeans. The USDA will issue its harvest progress estimates this afternoon with traders expecting progress to reach as high as 25%. Basis levels at the Gulf were steady to start the day against a backdrop of falling futures prices and a rapidly rising barge freight market. Basis levels were higher along the river and in eastern Indiana, but mostly steady elsewhere in the interior. Cash market traders indicate that letters of credit are being withdrawn in some cases making export movement more difficult into this week.