Soyabeans jump

US soyabean futures rose for a second day on Wednesday on export business that included China buying 120,000 tonnes and on a larger-than-expected October crush, a turnaround from sharp losses earlier in the week. Export demand has increased as soyabean prices have moved lower since early November. They were knocked to a 4-1/2 month low on Tuesday on technical selling and diminished concerns about tight supplies, but later recovered to close higher that day.
The US Department of Agriculture on Wednesday reported that private exporters struck deals to sell 120,000 tonnes of US soyabeans to China, the world's top importer of the oilseed. Exporters sold 40,000 tonnes of US soyabean oil to unknown destinations. Separately, the US National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA), said processors crushed 153.536 million bushels of soyabeans in October, the largely monthly total in nearly three years. The crush was well above the 147.713 million expected by analysts.
"Strong demand is supporting soyabean futures, both domestically and globally," said Karl Setzer, grain solutions team leader for MaxYield Co-operative. January soyabeans rose 0.8 percent to $14.19 a bushel at the Chicago Board of Trade. December corn edged up 0.3 percent to $7.25-3/4 a bushel, and December wheat lost 0.3 percent to $8.48-3/4 a bushel.
Commodity funds bought an estimated 3,000 soyabean contracts, 3,000 corn contracts, and sold 1,500 wheat contracts, traders said. Wheat stumbled, although the US crop has deteriorated due to dry weather. The USDA on Tuesday said US winter wheat was 36 percent good to excellent as of November 9, down from 39 percent a week earlier. A year ago, the crop was rated 50 percent good to excellent.
Dryness remains a concern across the Farm Belt following the worst US drought in more than half a century, and little rain is expected in the western portion of the US Plains hard red winter wheat region for the next 15 days, according to MDA EarthSat Weather. "This dry pattern has not broken," said Jason Britt, president of Central States Commodities. US wheat has become more competitive in the world market as supplies from the Black Sea region have tightened and Australia is set to produce a smaller crop.