Soybean futures still around $9 after Chinese buyers hurriedly lay hold on commodity

Kenneth Afor

Soybean futures are yet to achieve the $9 mark after Chinese buyers took hold of the commodity.

Buyers in Beijing bought millions of dollars worth of soya beans in the preparation of next month’s fresh negotiations between the US and China in Washington.

November soybean futures rose 0.0025, or 0.03 percent to $899.25 per bushel on Monday in the US. The prices gained 4.8 percent last week, rise to their year-to-date gain to more than 0.5 percent.

According to data released by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) about 204,000 tonnes of American soybeans were sold to Chinese imports which gulped about $67 million.

There are speculations that Chinese buyers had made orders for additional 600,000 tonnes due to heavy dependence on the commodity

However, it was revealed that the Chinese tariff commission, the second round in this year would be receiving applications from its importers to exclude US agriculture commodities including soybeans.

The White House has gone ahead to announce the delay of its planned tariffs on Chinese goods for an additional two weeks until October 15.

Meanwhile, according to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), it witnessed an increase in net short positions in soybean futures for the week ending September 10. But commercial traders of the commodity are still in control. But non-commercial investors are hoping for a fallout between the US and China on the new trade agreement.

Just last week, according to sources monitoring the situation, it was reported that the Trump administration would be willing to accept an interim deal but that was disputed by senior officials.

In other markets, November futures hanged $0.035, or 0.95 percent, to $3.7274 per pound. Wheat, on the other hand, rose $0.0475, or 0.98 percent, to $4.8825 a bushel.