Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soyabean futures inched upward on Thursday on news that Chinese state-owned firms bought at least 500,000 tonnes of US soyabeans, traders said. CBOT May soyabeans settled up 1/2 cent at $9.02-1/2 per bushel on Thursday.
CBOT May soyameal ended up 20 cents at $306.30 per short ton. May soyaoil fell 0.11 cent at 29.67 cents per pound, after dipping to 29.48 cents, the contract's lowest since January 24. Chinese state-owned firms bought the US soyabeans for shipment primarily from Pacific Northwest grain export terminals from June to September, two traders with knowledge of the deals said.
The purchases were the first since US Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue tweeted that China had committed to buying an additional 10 million tonnes of US soyabeans during trade talks on February 22. US export sales of old and new soyabean crop totaled 383,400 tonnes for the week ended Feb. 28, according to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data released on Thursday. Ahead of Thursday's US Department of Agriculture weekly export sales report, traders expected the government to report weekly US soyabean sales at 600,000 to 1,150,000 tonnes.
Dealers continued to keep a close watch on trade talks between the United States and top soyabean buyer China. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the talks were moving along well and predicted either a "good deal" or no deal between the world's two largest economies.
Port terminals at Miritituba and Barcarena in the Pará State, Brazil, could run out of soyabeans by Friday due to blockades on the BR-163 highway, a key artery connecting the country's crop belt to northern ports, the oilseeds group Abiove said Thursday. Abiove said the Brazilian government is expected to free up soyabean truck traffic in the direction of northern ports by Friday.