Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures closed narrowly mixed on Thursday, with the nearby May contract pressured by technical selling and profit-taking, traders said.
Market underpinned by strength in soyameal tied to worries about the coronavirus pandemic disrupting South American supplies, and demand from feed mixers seeking replacements for lost supplies of distillers' dried grains (DDGs), an ethanol byproduct, as ethanol production slows.
CBOT May soyabeans settled down 1-1/4 cents at $8.80-1/4 per bushel, while deferred contracts, including new-crop November, ended modestly higher.
CBOT May soyameal ended up $1.20 at $322.90 per short ton.
CBOT May soyaoil fell 0.14 cent to settle at 26.50 cents per pound.
The US Department of Agriculture reported export sales of US soyabeans in the week ended March 19 at 904,900 tonnes (old and new crop years combined), just above the high end of a range of trade expectations.
A labor union representing Argentine grains port workers asked the government to suspend exports due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Chinese soyabean processors fear the spread of coronavirus in major exporters could lead to further supply shortages, with some plants in the world's biggest buyer already having to wind back operations, industry sources and traders said.

Copyright Reuters, 2020

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