Soybean prices rose Monday on continued worries that hot, dry weather in South America could cut global supplies.
Wheat and corn prices also rose.
Forecasts last week predicted more rain in Argentina, a major corn and soybean exporter. But the rains appear to be lighter than expected, stoking fears that dry weather will hurt yields in that country, said John Sanow, an analyst with Telvent DTN in Omaha, Neb.
Corn and soybean surpluses are low, so traders are anxious about any disruptions to global supplies. Demand from livestock producers and ethanol refiners has risen faster than farmers' ability to boost yields.
The March soybean contract gained 36.5 cents to settle at $12.33 Monday. March wheat gained 17 cents to $6.4175 a bushel. The March corn contract rose 8.5 cents to end at $6.52.
In other trading, metals prices were mixed.
February gold lost $8.70 to finish at $1,608.10. Silver for March delivery gained 9.9 cents to end at $28.782 an ounce.
March copper dropped 1.9 cents to $3.416 a pound. April platinum rose $21.40 to settle at $1,429.60 an ounce and March palladium gained $3.85 to $617.85 an ounce.
In energy trading, crude oil lost a quarter to settle at $101.31 a barrel. Heating oil rose 0.28 cents to finish at $3.073 per gallon and gasoline futures rose 0.74 cents to end at $2.759 per gallon. Natural gas fell 4.8 cents to finish at $3.05 per 1,000
cubic feet. - Sapa-AP