CHICAGO: US soybean futures tumbled to their lowest prices in more than a decade on Thursday as traders worried that make-or-break trade talks between Washington and Beijing would fail to produce a deal to end the dispute that has slashed exports of American farm products to China.
Corn, wheat and livestock futures also fell as a two-day US-China trade meeting was set to begin in Washington.
US President Donald Trump has vowed not to back down on plans to impose new tariffs on imports of Chinese goods at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) on Friday, and China has threatened to retaliate.
The escalating tensions discouraged US farmers, who have been hoping for an end to the trade dispute. A deal could trigger accelerated commodity purchases by China, helping to reduce massive stockpiles of soybeans.
"The market is pricing in a 'No deal,'" Matthew Wiegand, broker at FuturesOne.
At the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), July soybean futures were down 15-3/4 cents at $8.11-1/2 a bushel by 11:35 a.m. CDT (1635 GMT). The most-active contract reached its lowest price since December 2008.
Soybeans were previously the single most valuable US agricultural export crop and until the trade war, China bought $12 billion-worth a year from US farmers.
CBOT wheat fell 8-3/4 cents to $4.30-1/4 a bushel, while corn dropped 8-3/4 cents to $3.55-1/2.
Traders were worried that China, as part of its potential retaliation against the United States, may possibly cancel orders for American farm products, said Tomm Pfitzenmaier, analyst for Summit Commodity Brokerage.
Such cancellations "would certainly be a negative for the US corn market, not necessarily because we have that many sales on the books, but because it does not bode well for future sales to China," he said.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), in a weekly export report on Thursday, said "unknown destinations" had canceled purchases of 263,500 tonnes of US soybeans.
Total weekly export sales of US soy and corn were below analysts' expectations, as shippers face stiff competition from rival suppliers such as Argentina, said Jim Gerlach, president of A/C Trading.
"You've got cheaper values elsewhere so you shouldn't expect to sell a lot," he said.
Traders were turning their focus to the USDA's monthly supply and demand report due on Friday that is expected to confirm large US inventories of wheat, corn and soybeans.
US weather next week is also expected to allow farmers to make progress planting corn after rain-related delays.
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