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CBOT soya ends near 1-year high on weather, funds

CHICAGO: Soyabean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade ended near one-year highs on Friday amid commodity fund buying and forecasts for dry weather in the US Midwest that blunted bearish input from government data, traders said.

CBOT soyabeans settled 7-1/4 to 9-1/2 cents per bushel higher, with May up 8 cents at $5.45-1/2, its best close since touching $5.47 on April 20 last year. November, the first major new-crop marketing month, was up 9 at $5.68-1/2.

Several of the deferred months hit new contract highs as commodity funds bought 7,000 contracts on the day.

Forecasts for dry weather for much of next week in the Midwest, where soil moisture has been depleted by an unseasonably warm and dry winter, dominated the market and pushed Friday's US Department of Agriculture quarterly stocks and plantings reports to the background.

"It would have been different if had been a surprisingly bearish report," said Vic Lespinasse, floor commentator for AG Edwards & Co. "It was only mildly bearish."

The USDA listed soyabean planting intentions for this year at a record 74.87 million acres, higher than trade estimates for 74.43 million and up from last year's 73.78 million.

With average yields, farmers were expected to harvest 2.96 million bushels of soyabeans this fall, which analysts said would keep prices depressed this year unless drastic weather changes in the Midwest damages the crop.

US soyabean stockpile data was market friendly. USDA listed US soyabean stocks as of March 1 at 1.40 billion bushels, against trade estimates for 1.42 billion.

"The weather was dominating the market," said analyst Bob Lekberg of Goldenberg Hehmeyer.

Salomon Smith Barney, in its weather outlook, forecast below normal rainfall in the Midwest for the next 10 days.

It said there were only two possible showers in the Midwest during the next 10 days and "neither one looks very good".

It said the first rains will fall on Sunday and Monday, with amounts ranging from 0.2 inch to 1.2 inches. It said more areas will receive closer to 0.2 inch of rain than 1.2 inches.

The next rains will fall on April 8 to 9, and the amounts would be very similar to the first, it added.

Weather Services Corp. said planting will begin in the coming weeks but may be slowed by dryness unless some significant rain develops.

The forecasts renewed concerns sparked by a US government warning earlier this month of drought in the Midwest this spring which was reinforced soon after by a long-term forecast by the National Weather Service. O'Connor bought 2,000 May, E.D. & F. Man bought 2,500 May, FIMAT Futures bought 500 May, ABN Amro bought 500 May and ADM Investor Services sold 1,000 May.

Soyabean futures volume was estimated by the CBOT at 70,000 lots, compared with the 46,312 traded Thursday.

Soyabean options volume was estimated at 24,000 contracts. -Reuters