- Soybeans mark 2-week top, soymeal at 18-month peak
- Argentina crop concerns lift prices, speculators long in meal
- Wheat gains for third day as rain forecast in U.S.
By Naveen Thukral
SINGAPORE, May 26 (Reuters) – U.S. soybeans hit their highest in two weeks on Thursday and soymeal jumped to an 18-month peak, with prices underpinned by concerns over lower supplies from key exporter Argentina.
Wheat gained more ground as the market was supported by unseasonal rains causing potential damage to the maturing U.S. winter wheat crop, while corn traded at its highest in more than a month.
The Chicago Board of Trade most-active soybean contract Sv1 rose as much as 0.3 percent to $10.88-1/4 a bushel, its highest since May 12. Soybeans, which rallied almost 3 percent in the last session, were trading down 0.1 percent by 0241 GMT.
Soymeal SMv1 added as much as 0.9 percent to $410.9 a short ton, the strongest since November 2016. The market climbed 4.7 percent in the last session.
“The main concern driving soybean and meal prices higher is the damage to crops in Argentina, but speculative length has increased significantly in recent months,” said Pawan Kumar, a director of agricultural commodities research at Rabobank in Singapore.
“Non commercials continue to extend their net long position across CBOT soymeal, reaching a 9-month high. We expect the U.S. soybean crop to be larger than (had been) expected and as a result meal futures will retreat.”
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybean, corn and wheat contracts on Wednesday.
Trader estimates of net fund buying in soybeans ranged from 10,000 to 16,000 contracts. Estimates of net fund buying in corn were from 8,000 to 16,000 contracts and in soymeal from 7,000 to 10,000 contracts.
In April, there was flooding in key farm areas in Argentina, the world’s third-largest exporter of unprocessed soybeans and its biggest shipper of soymeal.
Flooding is expected to have cut the country’s soybean output by 4 million to 8 million tonnes, even as higher-than-expected yields in dryer areas offset some of the losses, local farm analysts said on Wednesday.
The country’s soybean exports could fall by as much as 25 percent this year.
Wheat is drawing support on concerns over forecasts of rains in the U.S. Plains which could damage the hard red winter wheat crop.
Wheat Wv1 rose 0.2 percent to $4.67 a bushel, while corn Cv1 slid 0.1 percent to $4.04-1/4 a bushel. Corn climbed earlier in the session to $4.05 a bushel, matching Wednesday’s price which was the highest since April 21.
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