US soyabean futures rose on Tuesday for a fourth straight session, setting a 3-1/2-week top on demand from exporters and crushers, along with technical buying, analysts said. Corn futures were higher while wheat was lower. At the Chicago Board of Trade as of 12:24 pm CDT (1724 GMT), November soyabeans were up 2-3/4 cents at $9.81 per bushel. December corn was up 1-3/4 cents at $3.55-3/4 a bushel and December wheat was down 1 cent at $4.22-3/4 a bushel.
Soyabeans advanced after a choppy start, climbing after the US Department of Agriculture said private exporters sold 706,500 tonnes of US soyabeans to China. The sales announcement followed a visit to Iowa last week by a delegation of Chinese soya buyers who signed purchase agreements to buy 5.1 million tonnes of US soyabeans. Soyabeans also drew support from a larger-than-expected monthly soya crush figure released Monday by the National Oilseed Processors Association, said Mike Zuzolo of Global Commodity Analytics. NOPA said its members crushed 129.4 million bushels of soyabeans in September, above an average of trade expectations and up 2.1 percent from a year earlier.
The figure signalled strong demand for soyameal, a feed ingredient, despite competition from distillers' dried grains (DDGs), a byproduct of corn-based ethanol production. China last month imposed anti-dumping duties on DDGs, a move that some feared would push the ingredient back into US feed channels and stifle demand for soyameal. But NOPA's crush figure indicated otherwise.
Corn rose on technical buying and concerns the US harvest was running more slowly than normal. The USDA said the US corn harvest was 46 percent complete by Sunday, behind the five-year average of 49 percent and lagging trade expectations. Wheat was mixed to lower, with the December contract easing after a three-session climb that analysts attributed to funds covering short positions.