Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soyabean futures firmed on Thursday in a mild rebound as traders squared positions ahead of US Department of Agriculture plantings and stocks reports and as China booked fresh import purchases, traders said. CBOT May soyabeans settled up 2 cents at $8.89-1/2 per bushel. The contract held chart support at the four-month low of $8.86 posted on Wednesday. CBOT May soyameal ended up $2.10 at $306.50 per short ton and May soyaoil fell 0.19 cent to 28.63 cents per pound.
Chinese state-owned firms bought about 1.5 million tonnes of US soyabeans on Thursday as the latest round of US-China trade talks kicked off in Beijing. The USDA said export sales of soyabeans last week were just 198,800 tonnes, well below analysts' forecasts that ranged from 500,000 to 1 million tonnes. Traders squared positions ahead of USDA plantings and stocks reports due on Friday.
Analysts expect the USDA report to show that farmers plan to seed 86.169 million acres of soyabeans, up from the government's February forecast for 85.000 million acres but down from 89.196 million acres last year.
Soyabean plantings could be larger than previously thought as record flooding in the western Corn Belt may delay or prevent growers from seeding corn.
Analysts also expect the USDA report to show that US soyabean stocks as of March 1 stood at 2.683 billion bushels, the biggest ever for that time of year.
Soyabeans were also anchored by expectations for bumper crops in Argentina and Brazil.
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