Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures exceeded a three-week high on Friday as demand from end-users helped push soybean oil above a one-month peak, traders said.
Spillover support from soyoil’s rally lifted soybeans while corn futures slumped, traders said. Soyoil has advanced more than 22 per cent since dropping on May 31 to its lowest price since February 2021.
“End-user bargain buying boosts soyoil prices as the charts start to turn, triggering speculative short-covering as well,” said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist for broker StoneX.
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The most-active soybean contract ended up 23-1/4 cents at $13.86-1/2 a bushel and reached its highest price since May 16 (all figures US$). Soyoil hit its highest price since May 8 and settled 2.09 cents stronger at 54.59 cents/lb.
“The biofuel guys were buying the (soyoil) market over the past several weeks and some of the food end users may have gotten caught for spot coverage,” said Terry Reilly, senior commodities analyst with Futures International.
In CBOT grains, wheat rose four cents to $6.30-1/4 a bushel, while corn ended six cents lower at $6.04-1/4 a bushel.
Traders largely shrugged off monthly supply and demand data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture but said they will continue monitoring crop weather amid concerns about dryness hurting recently planted corn and soybeans.
USDA in its monthly report raised the domestic supply outlook for corn and soybeans due to waning export sales. A massive harvest in Brazil has cut into overseas demand as buyers on the export market look to the South American country for cheaper supplies of corn and soy.
USDA raised its estimates for Brazil’s 2022-23 corn and soybean crops in the report. If realized, both would be records for the world’s largest soy and corn exporter.
USDA separately confirmed private sales of 197,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans to unknown destinations for delivery in the 2022-23 marketing year that began last Sept. 1.
— Reporting for Reuters by Tom Polansek in Chicago; additional reporting by Matthew Chye in Singapore, Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris and Karl Plume in Chicago.
