Soybeans rise after biggest drop since 2023 on potential Trump-Xi meeting delay

Chicago soybean futures climbed on Tuesday after hitting their biggest daily drop since 2023 in the previous session, as the market responded to a potential delay to US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Wheat and corn climbed more than 1% each.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was up 0.7% at $11.63 a bushel, as of 0425 GMT.

Wheat climbed 1.5% to $6.06-1/2 a bushel and corn rose 1% to $4.58-1/2 a bushel.

Soybeans experienced their biggest daily drop since 2023 on Monday, falling to their daily limit after hitting near two-year highs last week.

Trump told the Financial Times in an interview on Sunday that he could delay his summit with his Chinese counterpart later this month as he presses Beijing to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz.

A potential delay for the meeting, originally planned for later this month, dampened hopes of more US soybean sales to China, traders said.

But the market is also grappling with potentially positive news: US and Chinese economic officials held “remarkably stable” talks in Paris on Sunday on agriculture trade issues. China is still committed to buying 25 million metric tons of American soybeans in each of the next three years under the October 2025 U.S and China trade truce.

The US processed higher-than-expected amounts of soybeans in February, according to monthly National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) data issued on Monday.

NOPA members, which account for nearly all soybeans processed in the United States, crushed 208.785 million bushels of soybeans last month, up 17.4% from the 177.870 million bushels processed same month a year earlier.

February’s soybean crush exceeded all trade estimates as the daily pace jumped to a record high, while soyoil stocks swelled to the largest since April 2020, according to NOPA.

In South America, offers to sell Brazilian soybeans to China have dried up due to tighter phytosanitary checks and higher freight rates, traders said.

Tighter quality checks during Brazil’s peak export season could hit supplies in China, though the market is well-stocked following record purchases last year.

Brazilian farmers have harvested 61% of their 2025/26 soybean crop, as of last Thursday, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday.

The pace remains the slowest since 2020/21, AgRural said.