CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade's soybean futures closed at a near two-week high on Friday, on optimism over US-China trade talks planned for next week and drooping estimates of the size of Brazil's developing crop, traders said.
* CBOT March soybeans settled up 8-3/4 cents at $9.21-1/2 per bushel after reaching $9.22-1/2, the contract's highest since Dec. 19.
* CBOT March soymeal ended up $2.30 at $319 per short ton and March soyoil rose 0.21 cent to 28.64 cents per pound.
* Soybean futures also closed for a third consecutive high, boosted by news that the United States and top global soy buyer China will hold trade talks next week.
* Worries about declining South American crop prospects added support to futures, as Brazilian soy farmers face the prospect of more crop failures.
* INTL FCStone cut its estimate of Brazil's soybean crop by about 4 million tonnes to 116.25 million tonnes.
* "There are some analysts that are forecasting that we could see as much as 8- to 10-million tonnes less soybeans in Brazil," said Mark Gold, managing partner at Top Third Ag Marketing. "I don't think it's that high, but those sorts of predictions are moving the market today."
* Stock and commodity markets also rallied after Beijing announced a new round of negotiations with Washington on Jan. 7-8, bolstering hopes of a resolution to a tariff war that has clouded the global economic outlook.
* US President Donald Trump said on Friday that talks between Washington and Beijing aimed at resolving a bitter trade disspute were going "very well."
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