CBOT soybean futures rally on EPA/biofuel group meeting

CHICAGO, April 1 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures climbed on Tuesday on news that a newly formed coalition of oil and biofuel groups would meet with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to discuss raising federal mandates for biomass diesel blending.

• CBOT May soybeans SK25 settled up 19-1/2 cents at $10.34-1/4 a bushel.

• CBOT May soymeal SMK25 ended down $0.40 at $292.30 per short ton and May soyoil BOK25 rose 2.55 cents to finish at 47.44 cents per pound.

• A coalition of oil and biofuel groups are likely to push for biomass diesel mandates in the range of 5.5 billion to 5.75 billion in a meeting with the EPA. That is up from its current level of 3.35 billion gallons, which the biofuel industry says is far below production capacity.

• Soybean stocks numbers released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Monday rose to a three-year high of 1.910 billion bushels, above trade expectations for an average of 1.901 billion bushels.

• The USDA estimated that U.S. farmers would plant

  83.495 million soybean acres in 2025, below trade expectations for 83.762 million acres.