Soyabean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were mostly firm near midsession on Thursday on a technical recovery from the sharp break late in the previous session, traders said.
At 11:37 am CST (1737 GMT), CBOT soya was up 2-3/4 cents per bushel to down 3, with January up 2-1/4 at $6.66 per bushel. Soyabeans keep tracking moves in corn as the market tries to prevent more acreage losses next spring. The soya/corn price relationship is enticing farmers to plant a lot more corn next spring at the expense of soyabeans.
Weekly export sales data also supported soya. The US Agriculture Department reported that 755,600 tonnes of US soyabeans were sold for export last week, slightly above trade estimates for 550,000 to 750,000 tonnes. Also, USDA early Thursday confirmed the sale of 115,000 tonnes of US soya to an unknown destination.
Spot basis bids for soyabeans were mostly unchanged in the US Midwest and country selling remained slow as producers held out for higher prices. Rain and cooler weather continues to delay corn and soyabean harvest in the southern and eastern areas of the US Midwest. Soyameal was up 90 cents per ton to down 20 cents, with December down 20 at $192.30 per ton.
USDA said export sales of US soyameal last week totalled 134,200 tonnes, within trade estimates for 125,000 to 175,000 tonnes. Soyaoil was up 0.05 cent per lb to down 0.08 with that market choppy yet underpinned by the outlook for demand to rise due to the expanding biodiesel industry.
December was up 0.05 at 28.43 cents per lb. USDA said export sales of US soyaoil last week totalled 18,000 tonnes, above trade estimates for 2,000 to 7,000 tonnes.