CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures ended higher on Monday, reaching a near seven-year top on worries about harvest delays in Brazil and dry conditions in Argentina, traders said.

• CBOT May soybeans settled up 3-3/4 cents at $14.33-3/4 per bushel, paring gains after reaching $14.60, the highest price in a continuous chart of the most-active soybean contract since June 2014.

• CBOT May soyoil ended up 0.66 cent at 52.46 cents per pound while May soymeal fell $1.90 to settle at $416.30 per short ton.

• Contract highs were set across the board in CBOT soybean and soyoil futures contracts.

• The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported export inspections of US soybeans in the latest week at 587,594 tonnes, in line with trade expectations for 400,000 to 800,000 tonnes.

  • Traders expect the USDA in a monthly supply/demand report due Tuesday to trim its forecasts of 2020/21 US and global soybean ending stocks.

• Brazilian farmers harvested an estimated 35% of the country's soybean acreage through last Thursday, down from 49% a year ago and the slowest pace in a decade, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said.

• China's soybean imports in January and February totaled 13.41 million tonnes, down slightly from a year earlier, customs data showed on Sunday, as rains in top exporter Brazil slowed some shipments.