CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures climbed for a fourth straight session on Wednesday and hit the highest level since June 2016 on robust demand and thinning supplies, led also by strong gains in the soyaoil market.

CBOT benchmark January soyabeans ended 6 cents higher at $11.75-3/4 per bushel after peaking at $11.78-1/4, the highest for a most-active contract since June 13, 2016. All contracts hit life-of-contract highs on Wednesday.

CBOT soyaoil futures posted contract highs in all months and closed up more than 2% on worries about tight global vegetable oil supplies. Soyameal futures ended lower. Expectations for strong export sales are supporting the market as a tight US soyabean stocks outlook has some traders believing farmers will have marketed all their 2020 harvest by January 2021.

Concerns about dry weather in South America and a potentially late harvest in early 2021 were supportive as US export shipments would likely benefit. Recent rains missed crucial crop-growing portions of Argentina and Brazil.

The US Department of Agriculture is due to release weekly export sales data early on Thursday. Analysts, on average, expect soyabean sales at 600,000 to 1,200,000 tonnes.-Reuters