Soyabean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade rose early Friday as traders covered short positions on weather uncertainty ahead of the weekend, traders said.
Large speculators hold a net short position in soyabeans, which triggers sporadic short covering, especially before a summer weekend. Traders were waiting to see if rains forecast for the driest areas of the US Midwest crop belt materialise.
July soyabeans were up 5 cents at $5.97-1/2 per bushel and new-crop November was up 5 at $6.04-1/2 by 10:35 am CDT (1535 GMT). The back months were up 1/2 to 5-1/4 cents. SAK Trading and J.P. Morgan were among the buyers of November soya, traders said.
Topsoil moisture in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska was 70 percent short to very short, said Mike Palmerino, a forecaster with Meteorlogix weather service.
That region could get 0.25 to 1 inch of rain over the next two days, he said. But the Midwest was heating up, with temperatures expected to be in the 80s to mid-90s (Fahrenheit) early next week.
"It's going to be hot around the areas, and I think that will take precedence, even though we're forecasting good rains," one cash-connected CBOT trader said. Mildly supportive was the discovery of Asian soya rust, a yield-cutting fungus, for the first time this growing season on a US soyabean plant.
CBOT soyameal was firm early, following soyabeans, while the weakness in New York crude oil weighed on soyaoil. With the booming soya biodiesel market, soyaoil tends to act more like an energy product than a food.
July soyameal was $1.60 per ton higher at $180.70, with the back months up $1.20 to $2.10. July soyaoil was down 0.07 cent at 24.75 cents per lb, with the deferreds down 0.03 to 0.06 cent.