CBOT November soyabeans settled up 3-1/4 cents at $8.98-3/4 per bushel after earlier peaking at $9.03-1/2, the contract's highest since July 30. The November contract's 4.8% weekly gain was its largest in 3-1/2 months. September soyabeans expired on Friday at $8.84-3/4.
CBOT December soyameal ended up 20 cents at $301.50 per short ton and December soyaoil rose 0.27 cent to settle at 29.43 cents per pound. Soyabean futures rose for a second session on signs of easing trade tensions between the United States and China and the resumption of soyabean purchases by Chinese importers. China exempted soyabeans from additional tariffs.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed private sales of 204,000 tonnes of soyabeans to China, confirming some of the sales first reported by Reuters a day earlier. The trade optimism more than offset a higher-than-expected US 2019 harvest forecast on Thursday in a monthly crop supply/demand report. The USDA lowered its US 2019/20 soyabean yield estimate to 47.9 bushels per acre (bpa), down from 48.5 in August but above the average estimate in a Reuters analyst poll of 47.2 bpa. The agency cut its US soyabean production estimate to 3.633 billion bushels, from 3.680 billion last month.