Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures rose about 2% on Thursday on strong export demand and news of fresh purchases by top global soya buyer China, as well as technical buying and short-covering at month-end, traders said.

Chinese state-owned importers bought at least five bulk cargoes of US soyabeans, or at least 300,000 tonnes, for shipment mostly from US Gulf Coast export terminals, two traders with knowledge of the deals said.

CBOT July soyabean futures settled up 17-3/4 cents at $8.55-1/4 per bushel.

For the month of April, the contract fell about 4%, its second straight monthly decline.

CBOT July soyameal closed up $6.50 on Thursday at $295.10 per short ton and CBOT July soyaoil ended up 0.43 cent at 26.60 cents per pound.

The US Agriculture Department (USDA) reported export sales of US soyabeans in the week ended April 23 at 1.078 million tonnes for 2019/20 marketing year shipment and 105,000 tonnes for 2020/21 shipment. Both were within the range of analyst estimates.