U.S. soybean oil prices ended slightly higher on Monday, alongside gains in crude oil markets and a rally in soybean meal futures. Meal futures hit lock limit-up, with several contracts, including December and January, hitting record highs due to worries that hot weather and dryness in Brazil will negatively impact the country’s crop. 
 
On the CME in Chicago, product spreading kept a lid on soybean oil markets. The benchmark soy oil futures contract (December) crossed below 50 cents per pound briefly but recovered and ended the session above 51 cents per pound, at 51.54 cents per pound. This was up 34 basis points per pound, or 0.7 percent.

In its Weekly Crop Progress Report released after the market close on Monday, the USDA indicated that 95 percent of the U.S. soybean crop had been harvested as of the week ending November 12. This compared to 91 percent the week and 96 percent during the same week in…