Soybeans Rise as U.S. Overseas Sales Jump, Cutting Supplies

By Luzi Ann Javier

Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Soybeans rose, set for the first weekly gain in three, after exports from the U.S. expanded, boosting optimism demand growth may be sustained, further tightening global supplies.

Exporters in the U.S., the world’s biggest grower and supplier, have sold about 13 million metric tons of soybeans as of Aug. 20 for delivery beginning Sept. 1, up 76 percent from a year earlier, the Department of Agriculture said yesterday. Overseas sales more than tripled to 1.97 million tons in the week ended Aug. 20, from a week earlier, it said.

“Orders like that are helping the oilseed and grain complex,” Jonathan Barratt, managing director at Commodity Broking Services Pty. in Sydney, said by phone today. “That should extend the gains in the next week.”

Soybeans for November delivery, after the U.S. harvest, rallied as much as 1 percent to $10.06 a bushel in after-hours electronic trading on the Chicago Board of Trade. The most- active contract traded at $10.0775 a bushel at 11:15 a.m. Singapore time, set for a 3.6 percent gain this week.

The government lowered its estimate for ending stockpiles in the U.S. to 210 million bushels on Aug. 12, from 250 million bushels a month earlier.

The U.S. gross domestic product shrank less than expected, as spending started to climb and profits grew, signaling the world’s biggest economy may be recovering from the worst recession since the 1930s.

The economy contracted at an annual pace of 1 percent from April to June, less than the 1.5 percent decline projected by economists in a Bloomberg News survey, according to a Commerce Department report in Washington yesterday.

Economic Pickup

“The global economy is picking up and that’s helping” sustain demand for soybeans, corn and wheat, Commodity Broking’s Barratt said. “The dollar weakness is also helping.”

The Dollar Index, which tracks the value of the greenback against six major currencies, is little changed and may close lower for a third week, making supplies from the U.S. cheaper for importers.

Corn for December delivery gained 0.5 percent to $3.3075 a bushel in Chicago at 11:14 a.m. Singapore time, lifting the weekly gain to 1.4 percent.

December delivery wheat advanced 1 percent to $5.0775 a bushel, taking the weekly rise to 4.1 percent, the first gain this month.

-- Editors: Richard Dobson, Matthew Oakley.

To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net