(Bloomberg) – Soybeans climbed for a second day on speculation demand for the oilseed from China, the biggest buyer, may increase. Wheat headed for a second weekly advance.
The contract for May delivery gained as much as 0.4 percent to $13.36 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade and was at $13.3575 by 11:51 a.m. in Singapore. Prices are set to advance for a second week and have rallied 3.4 percent this year.
China accounted for 72 percent of U.S. soybean exports in the week ended Feb. 6, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday. U.S. old-crop soybean export sales were 173,644 tons in the week ended Feb. 6, capping a 25 percent gain for the four-week average compared with a year earlier, the USDA said. China’s imports may climb to 72.8 million tons in 2014-2015 from 69 million tons a year earlier, it said in a separate report.
“Supporting the rise was a USDA report forecasting strong long-term Chinese demand for soybeans,” Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. analysts including Paul Deane wrote in a note today. “China is also expected to account for 63% of global imports in 2014.”
Wheat for May delivery advanced 0.5 percent $5.9675 a bushel, set to gain 3.3 percent this week. Corn for delivery in March rose 0.2 to $4.4125 a bushel, trimming its weekly loss to 0.7 percent.
