Markets

CBOT soybeans advance on technical buying, export business

Published April 10, 2018 Updated April 10, 2018 03:00pm

* CBOT May soybeans settled up 13-1/4 cents at $10.47 per bushel after reaching $10.56-3/4, a one-week high.

* CBOT May soymeal ended up $3.30 at $389.60 per short ton while May soyoil fell 0.01 cent to 31.52 cents per pound.

* CBOT soybeans drew early support from comments by US government officials playing down the threat of a trade war with China, the world's biggest soy buyer, despite tit-for-tat tariff proposals in the past week.

* But China stepped up its attacks on the Trump administration, saying Washington was to blame for the friction and repeating it was impossible to negotiate under "current circumstances."

* The USDA said private exporters sold 232,500 tonnes of US soybeans to unknown destinations for delivery in the 2017/18 marketing year.

* However, the USDA also reported export inspections of US soybeans in the latest week at 373,940 tonnes, below a range of trade expectations.

* The AgRural consultancy raised its estimate of Brazil's 2017/18 soybean crop to 119 million tonnes, from 117.9 million seen last month.

* Ahead of the USDA's monthly supply/demand report on Tuesday, analysts surveyed by Reuters expect the government to raise its forecast of US 2017/18 soybean ending stocks.

* Analysts expect the USDA to raise its estimate of Brazil's soybean crop and lower its estimate for Argentina.

Copyright Reuters, 2018