Soybeans climb to 6-1/2-year high on strong demand, supply woes

SINGAPORE: Chicago soybean futures jumped around 1% on Monday, climbing to their highest in 6-1/2 years on strong Chinese demand and as a labour strike in Argentina has curbed supplies.

Corn rose to its highest since July last year, rising for an 11th straight day, while wheat slid for a second session.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.9% at $12.76 a bushel by 0347 GMT, after climbing earlier in the session to its highest since June 2014 at $12.80-1/2 a bushel.

Corn rose 0.9% to $4.55 a bushel, having jumped to its highest since July 2019 earlier in the session, while wheat was down 0.2% at $6.26 a bushel.

There was additional support stemming from a broad gain in world markets.

Global shares ticked up on Monday as a source said US President Donald Trump signed into law a $2.3 trillion pandemic aid and spending package he had until now refused to sign.

Chinese imports of US soybeans in November more than doubled from the previous year, customs data showed on Friday, as cargoes booked following a Phase 1 trade deal between the United States and China arrived in the country.

The world's top buyer of soybeans imported 6.04 million tonnes of the oilseed from the United States in November, up 136% from 2.56 million tonnes a year earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

A strike by Argentine oilseed workers has bogged down exports.

The country's influential chamber of soyoil manufacturers and exporters on Sunday spiced up an offer to striking workers, seeking to end a more than two-week standoff that has reduced exports from one of the world's main breadbaskets.

Argentina's 2020/21 soybean planting area could turn out to be smaller than the projected 17.2 million hectares due to unusually dry weather, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said in its weekly crop report on Wednesday.

Grain exporters look unlikely to accelerate shipments of Russian wheat before an export tax is implemented in mid-February, with farmers expected to be in no rush to release supplies, particularly given poor prospects for next year's harvest.