Chicago soybean climbs for third day on robust demand for U.S. crops

Chicago soybean futures prices continued to surge on Wednesday, hitting one-week high, on strong demand for U.S. crops. Corn and wheat followed soybean higher, despite a slightly stronger U.S. dollar

The most active corn contract for March delivery jumped 10.75 cents, or 2 percent, to 5.5375 U.S. dollars per bushel. March wheat climbed 4.5 cents, or 0.7 percent, to 6.8525 dollars per bushel. January soybean rose 16 cents, or 1.3 percent, to 12.55 dollars per bushel.

U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday that U.S. exporters sold 780,000 metric tons of soybeans to China for delivery during the 2010/11 marketing year, which has offered soybean a strong lift.

Meanwhile, although recent rainfalls in Argentina soybean belt may help accelerate planting progress after recent persistent dryness, concerns among investors still remained as the La Nina may have a negative impact on the local crops during growing season.

Trader noted that the early weakness in the greenback, as well as the strong rally of soybean have both contributed to push up corn and wheat prices, but corn and wheat also gave back part of their earlier gains as many traders evened up ahead of Thanksgiving's holiday closing.
(Source:xinhua)