Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures closed higher on Friday on short-covering and position squaring ahead of hotly anticipated US-China trade talks at this week's G20 summit in Argentina. The G20 meeting is to include head-to-head discussions between US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Saturday.
The US-China trade battle has all but halted US soyabean sales to China, by far the world's biggest importer. A Chinese official said "consensus is steadily increasing" in trade negotiations, lending hope for a positive resolution in the ongoing tariff dispute between the world's two largest economies.
Open interest in CBOT soyabean futures has fallen in each of the previous three sessions as investors headed to the sidelines ahead of the trade talks. CBOT January soyabeans settled up 7-1/2 cents at $8.94-3/4 a bushel after reaching $8.96-1/2, the contract's highest since November 15. CBOT January soyameal ended up $1 at $310.50 per short ton and January soyaoil rose 0.15 cent at 28.06 cents per pound.
Rallies capped by expectations for a large Brazilian soya crop. The average estimate of Brazil's 2018/19 soyabean crop in a Reuters poll was nearly 121 million tonnes, while consultancy AgRural raised its estimate to 121.4 million tonnes from 120.3 million previously.