Soyabean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade ended modestly higher on Thursday on strong export demand and position-squaring a day ahead of a monthly US government crop report, traders said. Spillover strength from corn adds support.
Analysts expect USDA monthly supply/demand report on Friday to trim estimate of US soyabean production, reflecting smaller planted acreage. USDA also seen cutting its US 2010/11 soyabean ending stocks forecast to 337 million bushels, from 350 million in September - analyst poll. CBOT November soyabeans ended up 3 cents at $10.65 a bushel.
December soyameal up 40 cents at $296.20 per ton. December soyaoil up 0.34 cent at 44.12 cents per lb. Commodity funds bought an estimated 3,000 soyabean contracts, 1,000 soyameal and 2,000 soyaoil. Volume in soyabean futures near 166,000 contracts, 35 percent above the 30-day average near 123,000.
USDA said export sales of US soyabeans in the latest week totalled 947,400 tonnes, near the high end of estimates for 750,000 to 950,000. USDA put week's sales of US soyameal at 602,800 tonnes, including 469,300 tonnes of carry-over from the 2009/10 marketing year. USDA put sales of US soyaoil in latest week at 106,700 tonnes, including 85,600 tonnes of carry-over from the 2009/10 marketing year.