Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures declined on Thursday, with the most-active March contract touching its lowest in nearly four months on improving weather conditions in South America, traders said. Crop weather remains favorable for Brazil and forecasts called for beneficial weekend rains in parts of Argentina.

CBOT March soyabeans settled down 10-3/4 cents at $9.56-3/4 per bushel after dipping to $9.55, the contract's lowest since August 31. CBOT March soyameal ended down $2.40 at $316.10 per short ton while March soyaoil fell 0.56 cent at 32.71 cents per pound.

Additional pressure stemmed from worries that more stringent quality rules on Chinese soyabean imports starting in 2018 could stall US sales to the world's largest soyabean buyer. Traders said they expected CBOT soyabean deliveries of 100 to 500 contracts on Friday, which is first notice day for deliveries against January futures.

Copyright Reuters, 2017