Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soyabeans ended Friday trade on a positive note amid market hopes about US trade negotiations with China, but could not fully recover from news about the cancellation of some US export sales to China. CBOT March soyabeans settled the day up 4 cents at $9.07-1/2 per bushel.
But it closed down 7 cents a bushel for the week, it's third weekly decline, after improving harvest prospects in Argentina and the cancellation of some US export sales to China sent prices to a three-week low on Thursday. US markets including the Chicago Board of Trade will be closed on Monday in observance of Presidents Day. Trade in CBOT grains will resume Monday at 7 p.m. CST (0100 GMT) for trades dated Tuesday.
CBOT March soyameal ended up $1.00 at $306.50 per short ton, while March soyaoil ended up 0.06 cent to 29.95 cents per pound.
The soya market drew some support on Friday as both the United States and China reported progress in five days of trade negotiations in Beijing this week.
The United States and China will resume trade talks next week in Washington with time running short to ease their bruising trade war, but US President Donald Trump repeated on Friday that he may extend a March 1 deadline for a deal and keep tariffs on Chinese goods from rising.
National Oilseed Processors Association members, which handle about 95 percent of all soyabeans crushed in the United States, processed 171.630 million bushels of soyabeans in January. That was well ahead of the 163.111 million bushels crushed in January 2018, the previous record for the month, according to NOPA data released Friday.
January's crush - down slightly from December's 171.759 million bushels - was expected to slip to 169.575 million bushels, based on estimates gathered by Reuters from 10 analysts.