US soyabean futures reached their highest in more than a week on Tuesday, buoyed by sluggish farmer sales and strong export demand for soyameal, traders said. Wheat firmed on deteriorating US crop conditions, and corn followed soyabeans higher. At the Chicago Board of Trade, January soyabeans settled 17-1/4 cents higher at $10.51 per bushel, with January soyameal up $12.20 per ton at $374.80. Most-active March wheat finished up 8-1/4 cents at $5.57-3/4 a bushel, and March corn ended 7 cents higher at $3.87-1/4 a bushel.
Soyabeans led the early gains as soyameal, a key protein source in animal feed, remained in short supply domestically. The record-large US soya harvest is 97 percent complete, but robust export sales of soyabeans and soyameal have kept domestic processors in the hunt for fresh supplies. "You've got strong cash markets, and bull-spreads are working," said Tom Fritz, partner at EFG Group in Chicago. "The bottom line is, in the near term, we have still got some exceptional demand."
Traders also cited a Congressional Budget Office preliminary forecast for US soyabean plantings to drop by 2 million acres in 2015. A CBO spokesman said the office did not release new official US crop projections this week, but confirmed that estimates circulated among grain traders on Tuesday were preliminary forecasts. Corn was largely a follower of soyabeans, with firm cash bids from ethanol producers and exporters lending support. The US Department of Agriculture said the US corn harvest, projected at more than 14 billion bushels, was 94 percent complete as of Sunday.
CBOT wheat rose more than 1 percent after the USDA rated 58 percent of the US winter wheat crop as good to excellent, down from 60 percent the previous week, following a cold spell. Ratings dropped the most in Nebraska. Kansas City hard red winter wheat reached its highest level since September 8 on a continuous chart, supported by the drop in ratings and inter-market spreading against Chicago wheat. Traders were monitoring crop conditions in Argentina, where excessive rains in some areas have threatened wheat quality, and in the Black Sea region, where cold weather has hampered germination.