US soyabean futures notched a new five-month high on Tuesday after a US Agriculture Department announcement of a large sale to an unknown destination sparked a round of buying by investment funds, traders said. Soyabeans trimmed losses early in the session to gain for the fourth consecutive day. Corn futures also rose and wheat closed well off of its session lows with speculative investors active in each pit, trade sources said.
The USDA announcement that US exporters sold 568,000 tonnes of soyabeans for delivery in the 2013/14 marketing year rattled markets. The sale would tighten an already snug balance sheet for US soyabean supplies. Importers typically begin sourcing soyabeans from South America at this time of year, but rain is delaying harvest of what is expected to be a record soya crop in Brazil.
"This report this morning is unbelievable," Linn Group analyst Roy Huckabay said of the USDA announcement. "There were no bids on the PNW (US Pacific Northwest) yesterday for rail beans by anybody for any period." CBOT March soyabeans rallied on the news, finishing 12-1/2 cents higher at $13.99 per bushel, the highest level since September 13.
Commodity funds bought 7,000 soya contracts and 6,000 corn contracts, and bought and sold in equal amounts in wheat futures, the trade sources said. USDA also said that Egyptian importers cancelled the purchase of 110,000 tonnes of US soft red winter wheat, a decision that had more to do with rising US grain prices than political turmoil, grain traders said.
CBOT March wheat fell nearly 2 percent in the wake of the announcement before recovering and settling 2-3/4 cents, or 0.5 percent, lower at $6.15 per bushel. "The cancellation to Egypt was a sign of what was going on. US wheat on the rally just got too expensive so we're taking it back down," Huckabay added. It was Egypt's biggest cancellation of a US wheat purchase since September 2010, USDA data showed.
A forecast return to bitter cold temperatures in the central United States renewed concerns that fields of the dormant wheat crop not protected by snowcover could be damaged. CBOT March corn gained 4-1/4 cents to $4.55-3/4, rebounding after two sessions of declines. Corn futures, which fell 40 percent in 2013, have climbed steadily this year. Futures were likely to remain between $4.40 and $4.60 per bushel as support from good demand is offset by pressure from last year's record harvest.
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