Soyabean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed higher on Thursday amid prospects that clear, warm US weather would lead to more corn acres and fewer soybean plantings than the government recently estimated, traders said.
That sparked soya/corn spreading for the third straight day - a reverse of a recent trend as traders unwound positions.
May soya closed 2-1/2 cents up at $5.63 per bushel. New-crop November ended 2-1/4 cents higher at $5.96-1/4, gaining on new-crop December corn, which settled 3/4 cent lower at $2.68-1/2.
The market was also recovering from a sell-off that began about 10 days ago, when the US Agriculture Department forecast record large US soybean acreage.
The short-covering bounce came before the long holiday weekend. CBOT markets will be closed for Good Friday and reopen with the electronic session on Sunday night.
Weather maps early on Thursday indicated clear conditions for the next week or two in the US Midwest, a private forecaster said Thursday.
"There may be some delays from rain in the north and north-west but, in general, they should get a lot of work done," said Meteorlogix forecaster Mike Palmerino.
Adding support was USDA's confirmation early Thursday of strong export sales from last week. The government reported last week's US soya sales at 2,104,800 tonnes (old and new crop), compared with estimates for 1,900,000 to 2,350,000 tonnes.
Traders were expecting a large number after last week's big sale of 1.75 million tonnes of new-crop US soy to China.
Firms continued to roll May positions before first notice day. Thursday was also the last day the Goldman Sachs commodity index fund rolled its long May positions into the deferred months.
Featured soyabean spreaders were Iowa Grain and Fimat USA each spreading 2,000-2,500 July/May. O'Connor spread 3,000 May/July. In outright trade, funds bought 2,000-2,500 soyabean futures, bought 1,000 soyameal and sold 500 soyaoil.
Midwest spot basis bids were steady to firm Thursday, underpinned by quiet country sales as farmers focused on field work, cash dealers said.
Nearby spreads were supported early by firmer cash markets, traders said. Soyameal followed soyabeans higher while soyaoil reversed late on pre-weekend technical sales. Weekly export data was mediocre for meal and disappointing for soyaoil, traders said.
May soyameal closed $1.50 per ton higher at $173.40, with the deferreds up $1.10 to $1.50.
May soyaoil ended 0.08 cent lower at 22.56 cents per lb, with the deferreds steady to down 0.08 cent.
The May crush settled 0.08 cent weaker at 66.64 cents/bushel.
USDA reported on Thursday that 85,400 tonnes of US soyameal (old and new crop) were sold for export last week. That compared with estimates for 50,000 to 100,000 tonnes.
US soyaoil exports were only 700 tonnes (old crop), well below estimates for 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes. The soyaoil export number was lower than expected because USDA did not report a sale of 20,000 tonnes of US soyaoil to China that traders expected to show up on the books.
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