SINGAPORE: Chicago soybean futures gained more ground on Monday, with prices climbing to a 15-month high as China‘s return to the US market continued to buoy prices.
Wheat hit a three month high, while corn edged higher, tracking gains in soybeans, although plentiful global grain supplies are likely to limit the upside in prices.
FUNDAMENTALS
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) added 0.7 per cent to US$11.23 a bushel, as of 0109 GMT, the highest since July 2024. Wheat rose 0.6 per cent to US$5.37-1/2 a bushel, the highest since late July and corn added 0.5 per cent to US$4.33-1/2 a bushel.
US officials last week said China, the world’s biggest soybean importer, would buy tens of millions of tons of US crops in the next few years as part of a trade deal, triggering a rally in prices.
China previously shunned US soybeans due to its trade conflict with Washington and bought from South America instead.
Even though the commitment falls short of China’s usual purchase volumes of US soybeans in recent years, it is still a positive sign compared with the complete absence of Chinese buying from this year’s harvest.
China’s state-owned COFCO has bought three US soybean cargoes, the country’s first purchases from this year’s US harvest.
The market is awaiting further announcements from Chinese authorities on potential reductions in import tariffs on US agricultural products.
Global stocks were on pace for their third straight week of gains and seventh consecutive monthly advance on Friday buoyed by strong gains in megacap Amazon after its quarterly earnings, while the dollar climbed after hawkish comments from some Federal Reserve officials.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
