Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures closed lower on Friday in a holiday-shortened trading session on outlooks for improving crop weather in Argentina and technical selling after the lead January contract fell short of reaching $10 a bushel, traders said. CBOT January soyabeans settled down 4 cents at $9.93-1/4 per bushel after reaching $9.99-3/4, the contract's highest since November 9. For the week, the January contract ended up 2-3/4 cents per bushel or 0.3 percent, eking out a fourth straight modest weekly advance.
CBOT December soyameal settled Friday down 60 cents at $323.80 per short ton, turning lower after reaching a one-month high of $327 on better-than-expected weekly US export sales. CBOT December soyaoil fell 0.11 cent to end at 33.94 cents per pound. The US Department of Agriculture reported export sales of US soyabeans in the latest week at 903,600 tonnes (old and new crop years combined), below a range of trade expectations for 1.0 million to 1.5 million tonnes.
The USDA reported weekly US soyameal export sales at 379,800 tonnes, above a range of trade estimates for 100,000 to 300,000 tonnes.