(Bloomberg) – Soybeans rose in Chicago, rebounding from four straight drops, as speculation China is buying U.S. supplies boosted optimism the biggest importer will sustain purchases amid a bird-flu outbreak.
Exporters sold 116,000 metric tons of soybeans to unknown buyers for delivery in the season starting Sept. 1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday. A day earlier, it said Chinese buyers purchased 392,000 tons of U.S. soybeans. Prices slid in the last few days on concern China’s bird-flu outbreak would hurt demand for animal feeds, including soybean meal.
“Now we can once again see export demand,” Joyce Liu, an analyst at Phillip Futures Pte, said from Singapore. “Soybeans were pressured by reports that China has been importing less because of the avian flu.”
Soybeans for delivery in July gained 1 percent to $13.5825 a bushel at 5:31 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. The oilseed fell 3.2 percent in the past four sessions, the longest streak since March, and yesterday touched a 10-month low of $13.41.
Taiwan yesterday confirmed an infection of the H7N9 bird-flu strain in a traveler returning to the island from China, the first incidence of the virus spreading outside the mainland, where it has killed 23 people.
Wheat for delivery in July climbed 0.6 percent to $6.96 a bushel and corn for the same delivery month rose 0.5 percent to $6.215 a bushel. Milling wheat for November delivery traded on NYSE Liffe in Paris added 0.4 percent to 209.50 euros ($273.64) a ton.
