CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures closed lower on Friday, retreating from early advances as nervous traders booked profits ahead of the weekend and after the spot May contract notched a one-month high.

CBOT May soyabeans settled down 6-1/2 cents at $10.54-1/4 a bushel after reaching $10.67-1/4, the contract’s highest since March 8.

For the week, the contract rose 20-1/2 cents or about 2 percent.

CBOT May soyameal ended down 60 cents at $382.80 per short ton and May soyaoil fell 0.15 cent at 31.48 cents per pound.

Concerns linger about trade tensions between the United States and top soyabean importer China, although recent export demand for US soyabeans has been brisk.

Paraguay will produce just over 10 million tonnes of soyabeans in 2017/18, slightly less than its record-large crop a year earlier, the national export chamber CAPECO said.

Ahead of the National Oilseed Processors Association’s monthly soya crush report for March on Monday, the average soya crush estimate among analysts surveyed by Reuters was 168.2 million bushels, an all-time high if realized.

China, the world’s largest soya buyer, imported 5.66 million tonnes of soyabeans in March, up 4.5 percent from 5.42 million tonnes in February, Chinese customs figures showed.—Reuters