CHICAGO: US soybean futures climbed to a two-month high on Monday on brisk US exports and rising prices for vegetable oils.
Chicago Board of Trade wheat fell 3 percent and corn futures more than 1 percent, weighed down by spread trading tied to abundant global grain supplies and a firm dollar that made US commodities more expensive in international markets.
CBOT November soybeans were up 10-1/4 cents at $9.93-1/4 per bushel at 12:10 p.m. CDT (1710 GMT), after hitting a high of $9.99-3/4. Soyoil futures gained 2 percent and canola futures 1 percent.
Malaysian palm oil closed up 3 percent at the highest levels in more than two years as Asian vegoil supplies declined. "Port stocks of palm in China are low," said Kelvin Chow, an analyst with Rabobank in Singapore, putting them at 338,000 tonnes compared with a five-year average of 645,000 tonnes for the end-October period.
Higher US soy prices came despite a record-large soybean harvest that analysts predicted at 77 percent complete and as grain prices fell sharply. "I think it is a bean oil day, still. We had soybean spreading against grains," said Futures International analyst Terry Reilly. "There is not that much bullish news in the grains."
CBOT December wheat fell 13-1/2 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $4.01 per bushel, on pace for its largest daily losses in two months. Some traders were selling the front-month contract and buying deferred contracts.
CBOT December corn was down 5 cents at $3.47-1/2 per bushel, pressured by the US harvest and losses in wheat. The US Department of Agriculture said 2.7 million tonnes of soybeans were inspected for export in the week ended Oct. 20, compared with 541,527 tonnes of corn and 244,331 tonnes of wheat. The soybean shipments were above the high end of analysts' expectations.
Demand for US wheat was limited. Wheat prices in Russia gained for the sixth straight week, prompted by recent purchases of Russian wheat by top importer Egypt.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.