SINGAPORE: Chicago soybean futures gained ground on Friday and were set for a fourth weekly gain, as a severe drought curbed production in key suppliers Brazil and Argentina and underpinned prices.
Wheat dropped for a second session, while corn eased.
"It is mainly supply side issues that are dominating the soybean market," said one Singapore-based trader. "The market is looking at lower supplies, even as demand remains strong."
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) added more that 15% in four weeks of rally, as lack of rainfall curbed production in South America.
Soybeans climb to eight-month high on South American supply worries
The market was trading up 0.3% at $15.78-3/4 a bushel, as of 0320 GMT.
Wheat is up half a percent this week, while corn has gained more than 3%.
Soybeans surged after Brazilian food supply and statistics agency Conab slashed its estimate of Brazil's soybean crop to 125.471 million tonnes, down from its previous estimate of 140.5 million and way below the US Department of Agriculture's forecast of 134 million, released a day earlier.
Dry weather in recent weeks and scant hopes of significant rains for the rest of the month in Argentina's soybean belt are igniting fears of a "productive disaster" akin to that in 2018, the Rosario grains exchange said on Thursday.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT soybean, wheat, corn and soymeal futures contracts on Thursday and net buyers of soyoil futures, traders said.
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