Soyabeans hit one-week high

US soyabean futures rose on Thursday, hitting a one-week high on strength in the cash markets, signs of strong export demand and spillover support from a rally in soyameal prices, traders said. Corn and wheat futures were soft and mixed, respectively, with traders squaring positions ahead of long-awaited US Agriculture Department production and supply and demand reports.
Slow country movement of soyabeans as the harvest wound down helped prices rebound from a 21-month low hit on Tuesday. "With the farmer off of two or three years of record income, he is in a position where he is able to store a lot of crop," said Greg Grow, director of agribusiness at brokerage Archer Financial Services. "As we approach the end of harvest and the farmer is not content with the price, there is a little bit of a need to bid up the cash market to find levels where farmers are willing sellers."
Analysts expect the government to raise its estimate for the 2013 US corn harvest to a new record and to show a tripling of US ending stocks in Friday's crop report, the first in two months due to the partial government shutdown in October. CBOT soyabeans for January delivery settled 11-1/2 cents higher at $12.66-1/2 a bushel. The front-month November contract, which expires next week, was up 15-3/4 cents at $12.78-3/4 a bushel.
Traders said front-month soyabeans, which posted their biggest gain in percentage terms in three weeks, were receiving extra support from heavy commercial stopping of deliveries. CBOT December corn ended down 3/4 cent at $4.20-1/2 a bushel. Corn futures hit their lowest since August 26, 2010 during overnight trading.
USDA said on Thursday morning that export sales of corn were 1.72 million tonnes in the latest reporting week, topping forecasts for 1 million to 1.3 million tonnes. Soyabean export sales of 1.04 million were near the high end of expectations for 800,000 to 1.1 million tonnes. CBOT soft red winter wheat for December delivery was 1/4 cent lower at $6.53 a bushel while KCBT December hard red winter wheat dropped 4 cents to $7.12-1/2 a bushel and MGEX December spring wheat was down 2-3/4 cents at $7.09-1/2 a bushel.