Soybeans Rise From Three-Month Low on Gain in U.S. Export Sales

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) --Soybeans rose from a three-month low on speculation that demand will increase for record supplies from the U.S., the world’s largest grower.

Export sales of soy-based animal feed and vegetable oil in the four weeks ended Jan. 21 were more than twice those in the same period a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a report. Soybean sales since Sept. 1 have risen 43 percent from a year earlier to 34.564 million metric tons, the most ever, USDA data show.

“Export sales of soybean meal and oil were very good,” said Mike Zuzolo, the president of Global Commodity Analytics and Consulting in Lafayette, Indiana. “There’s some pent-up demand” from livestock producers, food manufactures and speculators after prices slumped this month, Zuzolo said.

Soybean futures for March delivery rose 2.75 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $9.3175 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Earlier the price fell to $9.21, the lowest level for the most-active contract since Oct. 8. Futures are down 11 percent since Dec. 31, heading for the biggest monthly drop since June, on forecasts for record world production.

Brazil and Argentina, the second- and third-biggest shippers, together will harvest 118 million metric tons of the oilseed this year, up 33 percent from a year earlier, the USDA said Jan. 12.

U.S. reserve supplies before this year’s harvest will total 245 million bushels (6.67 million metric tons), down from 255 million forecast last month, the USDA said. The surplus last year was 138 million bushels, the second-smallest since 1977.

The rising demand for soybeans, animal feed and cooking oil will reduce inventories to 190 million bushels, Zuzolo said.

“The demand bulls came back into the market today,” Zuzolo said. “March soybeans may bounce back toward $9.50 to $9.55” before the focus of investors returns to prospects for ample global supplies, he said.

Soybeans are the second-biggest U.S. crop behind corn, valued last year at $27.4 billion, USDA figures show.