Soyabean futures rose early on Thursday on larger-than-expected weekly US export sales and strength in the soyameal market, traders said. Wheat fell for a fifth session and set a five-month low while corn sagged for a sixth day, hobbled by poor US export demand.
At the Chicago Board of Trade as of 9:50 am CST (1550 GMT), January soyabeans were up 12-1/4 cents at $14.85-1/2 per bushel, their biggest rise in a week. The contract briefly traded above its 50-day moving average of $14.89. It has not settled above that average since September 19.
CBOT March wheat was down 3-1/4 cents at $8.08-3/4 a bushel after falling to $8.07, dipping below its 200-day moving average for the first time since June 22. March corn was down 3-1/2 cents at $7.22 a bushel. Soyabeans rallied after the US Department of Agriculture released a weekly report showing export sales of US soyabeans in the latest week at more than 1.3 million tonnes, well above trade expectations for 600,000 to 850,000 tonnes.
"We are using soyabeans faster than we had anticipated. That's where we're getting our support," said Karl Setzer, a commodity trading adviser and market analyst with MaxYield Co-operative in West Bend, Iowa. Exporters have been competing for US soyabean supplies with domestic soya processors, which have benefited from historically high profit margins from crushing soyabeans into soyameal, a high-protein feed ingredient, and soyaoil, used in foods and biodiesel. The National Oilseed Processors Association is scheduled to release its estimate of the November US soyabean crush on Friday.
CBOT soyameal futures lent support to soyabeans as well. The January contract broke above its 50-day moving average and touched a one-month high at $458.20 per ton before paring gains. The USDA's weekly export figure for wheat came in at 573,400 tonnes for the current and next marketing years.