US soyabeans rallied for a sixth straight session on Monday, rising to a fresh five-month high and bolstering corn and wheat futures, both of which rebounded from early losses to close higher. Soyabean futures have gained in 10 of the last 11 sessions, with spot March soya climbing more 1 percent on Monday, breaking above its 200-day moving average for the first time since September amid rising export demand from China, the top global soya importer.
"We're in a little bit of a bull market in soyabeans," said Jack Scoville, analyst at The Price Group in Chicago. "Corn and wheat are coming along for the ride." China, which buys nearly two-thirds of the world's soyabeans, last week booked the second-largest purchase ever from the United States, the leading soya exporter.
Traders anticipated more deals with China as dry weather was expected to reduce production this year in the respective No 2 and 3 soya exporters, Argentina and Brazil. CBOT March soyabeans finished 14-3/4 cents higher at $12.93-3/4 per bushel, the highest price on a continuous chart since September 22 and the biggest daily gain in two weeks.
Farmers in the United States and South America have held tightly to their soyabeans in the hopes of even higher prices, which has supported cash prices. Soyabean spot basis bids - the amount over or above benchmark CBOT futures grain buyers are willing to pay - are at the highest point since December in Decatur, Illinois, home of Archer Daniels Midland Co. "It's still difficult to originate beans in South America and the US The market keeps moving higher to see if they can spark the farmer to sell any," said Dan Basse, analyst at AgResource Co in Chicago.
CBOT March corn ended 3-3/4 cents higher at $6.44-1/2 per bushel and March wheat 4-3/4 cents higher at $6.45-3/4, with each contract turning positive after trading as much as 1 percent lower. Commodity investment funds on Monday were said to have bought 9,000 corn contracts, 7,000 soyabean contracts and 4,000 wheat contracts. Volume overall was thin, with some traders balancing books ahead of the end of the month and first notice day for deliveries against the March contracts, said Karl Setzer, grains analyst at the MaxYield Co-operative in West Bend, Iowa. "We're seeing some fine-tuning at month end," Setzer said.