Soybeans Jump to Highest in 9 Years

Elsewhere, energy prices moved broadly higher while precious and industrial metals finished in a mixed range.

China has been on a soybean shopping spree, and that's helped push soybean prices to peak levels. This week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that China's soybean purchases of U.S. beans totaled 443,000 metric tons following purchases of 917,000 metrics tons last week. With Chinese production of soybeans down this year due to poor weather, and consumption of beans and bean oil growing fast in that country, demand for U.S. soybeans has swelled.

"The market is saying we've got enough now but we're not going to have enough later," said Jim Gerlach, president of AC Trading Co. in Fowler, Ind. "I'm not talking next year, I'm talking about this year. Both U.S. demand and U.S. export demand are severely understated."

Soybean prices climbed as high as $10.88 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, the highest since a bushel fetched $10.9995 during a 1988 drought, according to AgResource Co. Prices have risen 5 percent in November and are up 56 percent so far this year.

Soybeans succumbed to a bout of late-session profit-taking, however, to close at $10.7775 on the CBOT, down 1 cent.

"I think people get altitude sickness at this level. These are very high levels" for soybeans," said AgResource President Dan Basse.

The USDA recently cut its estimates for global oilseed inventories, mainly due to lower supplies of soybeans in China and Brazil. The agency also expects Chinese global imports to jump 17 percent year over year, while production falls by 12 percent -- although some private analysts are forecasting an even larger production drop and stronger demand.

"China has been a good buyer right along and is expected to remain so after the first of the year," said DTN analyst Gary Wilhelmi.

Other agricultural futures ended mixed. December corn rose 4.75 cents to $3.795 a bushel, while December wheat prices dropped 16 cents to close at $7.495 a bushel on the CBOT.

Oil prices rose above $95 a barrel on Friday, continuing a week of volatile price swings, as traders tried to digest a report on petroleum inventories. The Energy Information Administration's weekly inventory report showed a surprising increase in crude supplies, but that was balanced by an unexpectedly large drop in supplies of distillates such as heating oil heading into winter.

Reports that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may reject U.S. requests that the group raise production also bolstered prices, analysts said.

The December light, sweet crude contract, which expired at the session's close, rose $1.67 to settle at $95.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The January contract settled at $93.84 a barrel, up $1.77.

Heating oil futures rose 2.84 cents to $2.5871 a gallon, while gasoline futures gained 3.92 cents to $2.3754 a gallon.

Gold prices attempted a rebound after Thursday's sell-off, but the gains didn't hold. The metal has gone through a painful correction this week that has seen prices slide $48, or 6 percent. A combination of a declining dollar and rising oil prices helped send gold prices up nearly $200 from mid-August to $848 last week -- the highest since 1980 -- and analysts have been warning the metal was due for a round of hefty profit-taking.

An ounce of gold fell 30 cents to settle at $787 on the Nymex, while silver futures rose 2.8 cents per ounce to $14.51.

Industrial metals finished in a mixed range. Nickel, zinc and lead prices slipped on the London Metal Exchange, while copper, tin and aluminum rose. December copper traded on the Nymex added 8.05 cents to $3.1615 a pound.