Soybeans rebound on hopes of strong demand for US supplies

SINGAPORE: Chicago soybean futures kicked off March on a bullish note, climbing 0.9% on Monday as delays in exports from Brazil boosted expectations of higher demand for US supplies. Corn and wheat futures rose after two sessions of declines.

"There have been reports over the weekend that there is too much rain in Brazil and dryness in Argentina," a Singapore-based trader said. "Soybean shipments are likely to face further delays."

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT) added 0.9% to $14.17-1/4 a bushel by 0319 GMT. Corn gained 0.6% to $5.50-3/4 a bushel and wheat was up 0.5% at $6.63-1/2 a bushel.

Chinese soybean crushers are expected to curtail operations sharply in the coming months due to harvest delays in top exporter Brazil, pushing up prices and likely leading to a rundown in inventories.

US soybean processors likely crushed 5.867 million short tons of the oilseed in January, or 195.6 million bushels, according to the average forecast of eight analysts surveyed by Reuters ahead of a monthly US Department of Agriculture report.

Estimates ranged from 195.0 million bushels to 196.1 million bushels, with a median of 195.6 million bushels.

Large speculators cut their net long position in CBOT corn futures in the week to Feb. 23, regulatory data released on Friday showed.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) weekly commitments of traders report also showed that non-commercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, trimmed their net short position in CBOT wheat and raised their net long position in soybeans.