Chicago | Reuters—Chicago soybean futures slid for the second session on Tuesday as worries over international trade tensions and falling soyoil futures weighed on prices, analysts said.
Corn futures were mixed as steady planting progress in the U.S. and Brazil’s upcoming harvest added pressure, while wheat crept higher on technical trading.
Most active Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures Sv1closed down 4-1/4 cents to $10.41-1/4 per bushel.
The most active corn contract Cv1closed up 1-1/4 cents at $4.55-1/2 per bushel, and CBOT wheat Wv1closed 4-3/4 cents higher to $5.36 a bushel.
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Demand for U.S. soybeans from China, the world’s biggest soy importer, has vanished amid the ongoing U.S.-China trade war.
Market players are continuing to await clearer indications that Washington and Beijing could enter negotiations to resolve their tariff standoff.
“The White House says they’re working on all these deals but we’re not getting any announcements and the trade is getting tired of this,” Tom Fritz, broker at EFG Group, said.
Soyoil futures have taken a beating as a lack of biofuel blending mandates from the Environmental Protection Agency and cuts to the EPA budget prompted long liquidation and weighed on the entire soy complex, traders said.
Meanwhile, traders said hot, dry weather in the major grain-growing province of Henan has raised concerns about wheat growth and led to short covering.
“Having a weather problem in China is important and might increase their appetite for wheat imports,” Dan Basse, president of AgResource Company, said.
However, rain in the Black Sea region and a boost to U.S. harvest prospects have continued to weigh on prices.
The USDA’s weekly update showed that corn planting was 40 per cent complete, ahead of the five-year average of 39 per cent but slightly below analysts’ expectation of 41 per cent. Soybean planting was 30 per cent, above the five-year average of 23 per cent, but just shy of the 31 per cent forecast.
Favourable harvest prospects in Brazil are continuing to keep a lid on corn prices, countering support from brisk U.S. exports.
—Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Ella Cao and Lewis Jackson in Beijing
