SINGAPORE: Chicago soybeans were largely unchanged on Tuesday, with the market trading near previous session's lowest in more than three weeks, on pressure from concerns over lack of demand for U.S. supplies amid Washington-Beijing trade tensions.
Wheat prices were flat after strong gains with the market supported by prospects of U.S. exports rising in the months ahead.
The Chicago Board of Trade most-active soybean contract was up 0.25 cents, or 0.03 percent, at $8.62-1/2 a bushel, by 0327 GMT. In the previous session, the soybean contract dropped more than 2 percent to $8.57 a bushel, the weakest since Nov. 1.
Wheat was unmoved at $5.14 a bushel, while corn added 0.1 percent to 3.56-1/4 a bushel.
Soybeans are being weighed down by fears of a prolonged trade war between the United States and China, the world's biggest importer of the oilseed.
China has been buying Brazilian soybeans during the conflict and may be able to continue avoiding U.S. soy, given expectations of an early harvest in South America.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Argentina this week, and Washington is set to raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent in January if there is no agreement.
A decline Brazilian Real added pressure on soybean prices.
"The trigger seemed to be a hefty fall in Brazil's real," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy, Commonwealth Bank of Australia. "U.S. soybeans are obviously made less competitive compared with Brazil soybeans with the fall."
China's soybean imports from Brazil nearly doubled in October from a year earlier, customs data showed on Monday, as buyers scooped up shipments on worries over shortages amid trade tensions.
The wheat market is being underpinned by the sale of U.S. cargoes to Egypt.
Egypt's state grain buyer last week said it bought 240,000 tonnes of wheat in a tender on Thursday, with half coming from the United States.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Monday confirmed a private sale of 120,000 tonnes of U.S. soft red winter wheat to Egypt.
Dry weather in early autumn hampered the sowing and development of grains in central Europe, but crops in most parts of the European Union have started the season well, EU crop monitor MARS said on Monday.
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