SINGAPORE: Chicago soybean futures lost more ground on Tuesday with prices dropping for an eighth consecutive session as fresh trade tensions between Washington and Beijing weighed on the market.
FUNDAMENTALS
* China backtracked on substantial commitments it made during trade talks with the United States, prompting President Donald Trump to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods slated to go into effect on Friday, top U.S. trade officials said on Monday.
* Trump said on Sunday that tariffs on $200 billion of goods would increase to 25 percent on Friday, reversing a decision he made in February to keep them at 10 percent due to progress in trade talks.
* The president also said he would target a further $325 billion of Chinese goods with 25 percent tariffs "shortly," essentially covering all products imported into the United States from China.
* Soybeans are the most valuable U.S. agricultural export to China, which had been the top buyer of U.S. soybeans prior to the trade war. Pledges by Beijing to increase imports of U.S. farm goods had raised expectations it would also start buying significant amounts of U.S. corn and wheat.
* U.S. tariffs, which have sparked broad selling on equity and commodity markets, added to recent pressure on soybeans linked to expectations that U.S. farmers will switch some areas from corn to soybeans.
MARKET NEWS
* Asian shares wallowed near five-week lows on early Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to raise tariffs re-ignited worries about U.S.-China trade tensions while Japan's Nikkei opened down after a 10-day break.
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