CHICAGO: US soyabean futures rose about 2% on Friday, led by soaring soyameal futures tied to technical buying, brisk demand for the high-protein feed ingredient and logistical hurdles, traders said. Corn and wheat futures followed the higher trend, supported by tightening global grain supplies and fund-driven buying, and US wheat futures hit their highest in nearly nine years.

Chicago Board of Trade January soyabean futures settled up 22-3/4 cents, or 1.9%, at $12.44-1/4 per bushel, with December soyameal up $17.60, or 5.1%, at $362.10 per short ton. CBOT December corn ended up 7-3/4 cents at $5.77-1/4 a bushel. December wheat finished up 4-1/2 cents at $8.17 a bushel after reaching $8.26-3/4, the highest on a continuous chart of the most-active contract since December 2012.

The surge in soyameal surprised some traders, given that CBOT soyameal has lost ground to soyaoil on spreads for most of 2021 as global vegetable oil supplies dwindle and demand for biofuel rises. But demand for soyameal, used in animal feed rations, may be climbing at a time of transportation bottlenecks and labor shortages.

Soyabean futures drew support from fresh export business, with the US Department of Agriculture confirming private sales of 256,930 tonnes of US soyabeans to unknown destinations. CBOT corn rose in part on brisk demand for corn-based ethanol fuel.

"The ethanol guys have these massive margins, so they are running hot and bidding up to buy all the corn they can," Linn said. Euronext wheat futures held near 14-year highs as plans by Iraq to make a large import purchase added to concerns about global inventories, after top exporter Russia suggested further possible curbs on its shipments.

The most-active March milling wheat contract on the Paris-based Euronext settled up 1.75 euros, or 0.6%, at 294.00 euros ($336.45) a tonne, a day after reaching 296.00 euros, the highest price on a second-month position since September 2007.