CHICAGO: US soybean futures rose on Wednesday on a slower-than-expected harvest pace and news of fresh export sales, although plentiful global supplies kept a lid on the market, analysts said.
Wheat futures fell on sluggish export demand while corn futures ended narrowly mixed.
Chicago Board of Trade January soybean futures settled up 5-1/4 cents at $8.83-1/2 per bushel. CBOT December wheat ended down 4-3/4 cents at $5.03 a bushel and December corn rose 1/2 cent at $3.67 a bushel.
Soybeans firmed as the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said private exporters sold 148,000 tonnes of US soybeans to unknown destinations, the second such sale in as many days.
Late Tuesday, the USDA said the US soybean harvest was 88 percent complete, behind the average trade estimate of 91 percent and the five-year average of 93 percent.
Additional support stemmed from firming cash values in the Midwest interior as harvest winds down and farmers put crops into storage. Some are hoping for a rally if US trade talks with top global soybean buyer China go well later this month.
President Donald Trump is due to meet with China President Xi Jinping in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the end of November on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit.
"There are very few farmers who want to sell and miss out on what could be a $1 rally in the market," said Brian Hoops, president of US broker Midwest Market Solutions.
CBOT corn futures found underlying support from a slow US harvest pace and a USDA announcement that exporters sold 212,000 tonnes of the grain to Mexico.
But spillover pressure from a slide in CBOT wheat futures capped the strength in corn.
Wheat futures fell after a surprise improvement in the USDA's winter wheat condition ratings. The USDA late Tuesday rated 54 percent of the crop in good to excellent condition, up from 51 percent the previous week. Analysts on average had expected no change.
The winter wheat crop was 89 percent planted, lagging the five-year average of 94 percent. Analysts questioned whether much of the last 10 percent would be seeded, given the late date and wintry US weather this week.
But traders are fixated on slow US wheat exports, Hoops said, noting the K.C. December hard red winter wheat futures contract dipped to $4.80-1/4 a bushel, its lowest since mid-December 2017.
"That tells us our demand is not there," Hoops said.
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