Soybeans climbed for a third day to the highest level in more than a week on signs of increasing demand from China, the world’s largest buyer, amid a threat to the crop in Argentina from dry weather. The oilseed for delivery in May gained as much as 0.7 percent to $14.68 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, the highest price since Feb. 8. The contract was at $14.6575 at 11:27 a.m. in Singapore, on volume that was 50 percent more than the 100-day average for the time of day. China bought 120,000 metric tons from U.S. exporters for delivery by Aug. 31, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday. Argentina, the world’s largest exporter after Brazil and the U.S. this year, may harvest 50 million tons of soybeans, less than last month’s forecast of 52 million tons, Hamburg- based researcher Oil World said. “Traders are optimistic that oilseed sales to China will pick up after a week-long Chinese New Year festivities,� Luke Mathews, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a report e-mailed today. “Another sale of U.S. soybeans to China, combined with lower than expected rainfall in Argentina and freezing temperatures across China’s rapeseed production areas supported strong price gains.� Temperatures may drop to between minus 3 degrees Celsius (26.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and minus 5 degrees Celsius in Anhui today, which may harm rapeseed growth, according to a forecast by Xn121.com, a state-owned crop weather service website. Corn for May delivery gained 0.4 percent to $6.9475 a bushel. That puts the price of soybeans at 2.1 times the cost of corn, compared with a 10-year average of 2.43 times. Wheat for May delivery rose as much as 0.5 percent to $7.4225 a bushel and was last at $7.4125. Trading volume was more than double the 100-day average for that time of day. To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net

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