CHICAGO: Spot soyoil futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell to a 5-1/2 month low on Thursday and most months hit contract lows on technical selling and meal/oil spreading, traders said.

The US Department of Agriculture reported better-than-expected weekly export sales of US soymeal, signaling a continued strong soy crushing pace that should add to supplies of soybean oil.

As of 1 p.m. CDT (1800 GMT), CBOT July soyoil was down 0.45 cent at 47.85 cents per lb, after falling to 47.70 cents, the lowest spot price since Dec. 20.