US soyabean futures rose for a third straight session Thursday and neared psychological resistance at $15 per bushel, lifted by strong demand from domestic processors. Wheat and corn firmed on bargain buying after falling for five and six straight sessions, respectively.
At the Chicago Board of Trade, as of 10:22 a.m. CST (1622 GMT), CBOT January soyabeans were up 18 cents at $14.94-1/2 per bushel after reaching $14.97. The contract hit $14.98-1/4 a week ago but has not traded above $15 since November 8. CBOT March wheat was up 5 cents at $8.13-1/2 a bushel and March corn was up 4 cents at $7.24-1/4.
Soyabeans rose after the National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) reported a November US soyabean crush of 157.3 million bushels, the largest monthly total in nearly three years. Analysts attributed the robust crushing pace to high profit margins, fuelled in part by the strongest demand for US soyabean meal - a high-protein feed ingredient - since the 2009/10 marketing season.
Export demand for soyabeans has also been strong, especially from top global soya buyer China, which has forced domestic processors to pay up for soyabean supplies. CBOT soyabeans drew background support from data out of China showing that manufacturing in the world's second-largest economy grew at its fastest pace in 14 months in December.
Wheat rose on a short-covering bounce after hitting a five-month low on continued technical selling following Tuesday's USDA report, in which the government raised its forecasts for US and global wheat ending stocks. Front-month CBOT wheat was on track to post a loss of more than 5 percent for the week, its largest weekly drop in a month. But the fall in prices may help reveal some end-user buying.
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