Chicago | Reuters—Chicago soybean futures crept higher on Thursday as higher soyoil futures and hopes that upcoming U.S.-China trade talks in Switzerland could reduce trade tensions that have disrupted U.S. grain and oilseeds exports, analysts said.
Wheat and corn futures slipped as good planting weather and growing conditions in the U.S. pressured prices.
Chicago Board of Trade most-active soybeans Sv1 rose 5-3/4 cents to $10.45 per bushel. CBOT wheat Wv1 fell 5 cents to $5.29-1/4 per bushel. Corn Cv1closed down 1-3/4 cents to $4.47-1/2 per bushel.
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U.S. wheat futures closed higher on Thursday on concerns over the limited availability of supplies for export in Russia, analysts said.
Market players have been hesitant to make big moves ahead of the trade talks this weekend, which could calm the trade war that has effectively halted U.S. soybean and grain exports to China.
“We’ve been straight sideways for a couple of weeks, so we’re just waiting to see if there’s any progress on trade talks,” Randy Place, analyst at Hightower Report, said.
U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday announced a “breakthrough deal” on trade that leaves in place a 10 per cent tariff on goods imported from the UK while Britain agreed to lower its tariffs to 1.8 per cent from 5.1 per cent and provide greater access to U.S. goods.
In corn, ideal U.S. weather and hopes for a thawing U.S.-China trade relationship have overridden bullishness from brisk export demand, analysts said.
Dry weather in the U.S. corn belt has allowed farmers to rapidly plant what is expected to be a large corn crop, and rainy forecasts for the coming weeks should allow for ideal growing conditions, analysts said.
Rains over the U.S. Plains are expected to boost wheat yields and have pressured Chicago wheat futures.
Traders are also positioning ahead of Monday’s U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly supply and demand report.
—Additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg, and Ella Cao and Lewis Jackson in Beijing
