Soyabeans higher and oil sets 15-1/2-year top

Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures ended higher on Monday on commercial buying, erasing break on fears that the avian flu would spread, and as soyaoil set a 15-1/2 year high on worries about tight global soyaoil supplies, traders said.
Concerns about crop weather in Brazil and Argentina, the second and third largest soyabean growers in the world, were also supportive, they said.
CBOT soyabeans settled up 9-1/4 cents to unchanged, with CBOT March up 7-1/2 cents at $8.47-1/2.
Commercials were net buyers, including Produce Grain, which spread 2,000 March/May and sold May $8.80 and $9.00 call options, brokers said.
Cargill Investor Services spread 4,000 May/March, while commodity funds bought about 3,000 lots, they noted.
CBOT soyaoil settled up 0.52 cent to 0.87 cent per lb, with March soyaoil up 0.80 cent at 31.46 cents per lb after hitting a high of 31.51 cents per lb, the highest level since July 1988. Funds bought about 5,000 lots and commercials were also net buyers, traders said.
A firm close in Malaysian palm oil futures and hopes for continued Chinese demand was bullish.
A drop in soya crushings in China, amid decreased demand for soyameal as chickens are slaughtered, has led to increased imports of soyaoil.
A deadly strain of bird flu continues to sweep Asia and depress chicken consumption, traders noted.
Last week's discovery in Delaware of bird flu strain H7, a mutation of Asia's deadly H5N1 strain, added fears of a drop in US export sales and soyameal demand, traders said.
Chickens consume about half of all soyameal produced in the United States.
"We saw knee-jerk reaction," one CBOT soya trader said on Monday. "But the market came roaring back, and it could close firm if there are no more discoveries of additional US bird flu cases.
And people understand that the strain of flu found in the US isn't deadly for humans."
On Monday, a Delaware State official said tests for avian flu on five Delaware farms had proved negative, further easing concerns.
CBOT soyameal futures ended down $5.50 per ton to up 30 cents, with March down 90 cents at $255.90. Funds bought at least 3,000 lots and commercials were net buyers, traders said.