The Chicago Board of Trade soyabean market exploded on Friday, rallying near 20 cents in new-crop November amid crop fears of hot, dry weather hitting the US Midwest, traders said. November soya was 18-1/2 cents higher at $7.64 per bushel, about a dime off its contract top of $7.75. July beans were 15-3/4 cents higher at $7.41-1/2 by 11:05 am CDT (1605 GMT).
The worries fuelled more buying by commodity funds, with Citicorp, Reface Rand Financial and Clayton among the buyers. The top Soyabean State of Illinois remains dry with rainfall at least 5 to 6 inches below normal.
Some forecasters were calling for a record hot day in northern Illinois, with the high reaching 98 degrees (36.7 Celsius) on Friday in Chicago. The US Delta soya region also remains dry. The dry areas of Illinois will probably see only isolated thundershowers during the next five days, said Meteorlogix weather service on Friday.
The best chance for rain in Illinois will be next on Wednesday and Thursday. Meteorlogix said that for July 4 through July 9 it appears another drier period is in store for the central and eastern Midwest.
Any change in weather forecasts has spurred volatile price swings in both directions over the past month.
On Friday's rally came on the heels of a late sell-off on Thursday spurred by forecasts for rains July 1-4. On Friday is also the last trading day and expiration for July soyabean, soyameal and soyaoil options.
The soyameal was $3.40 to $5 per ton higher with July up $3.40 at $231.80, following soyabeans in a volatile weather market.
The soyaoil market also followed the strength in soyabeans, with July up 0.51 cent at 25.75 cents per lb and the deferred 0.40 to 0.53 higher. Malaysian palm oil futures closed firm overnight. Trading was light, with players awaiting key export data for clearer market direction, traders in Kuala Lumpur said.