China buys more soybeans, pushing up prices

Soybean prices pushed higher on Wednesday at the market as China made another hefty purchase from the United States to help satisfy a voracious appetite for the protein-rich beans.

Soybeans for January delivery settled up 32.25 cents at $12.2375 a bushel, its highest level since the summer of 2009.

China has purchased U.S. soybeans for six consecutive days, including Wednesday's buy of 180,000 metric tons. There also have been some sales to unknown destinations, which put the export sales total for the past six days at nearly 1.8 million metric tons.

China wants to increase the amount of protein in the diet of its growing population with soybeans.

Most commodities also settled higher as the dollar grew weaker, giving up much of the gain it made Tuesday after China's central bank raised a key interest rate in an effort to curb its rising inflation.

Most of the grain futures rose Wednesday. In grains contracts for December, corn jumped 27.5 cents, or 5 percent, to settle at $5.7350 a bushel and wheat added 11.5 cents to settle at $6.83 a bushel.

Source: Agencies / People's Daily Online