Soybeans ease after 2-week top as US-China trade assessed

• Corn inched up for a fourth session as slower than expected planting progress last week in the US Midwest due to wet conditions underpinned the market.
• Wheat was also firm as traders continued to assess the benefit of rainfall in dry crop belts across Europe.

PARIS: Chicago soybean futures edged lower on Thursday after an earlier two-week high as traders weighed up political tensions between Washington and Beijing against renewed Chinese demand for US soybeans.

Resumption of normal loading of soybeans and other products at Brazil's Paranagua port on Wednesday after a coronavirus case caused a 24-hour stoppage at one berth also removed some price support.

Corn inched up for a fourth session as slower than expected planting progress last week in the US Midwest due to wet conditions underpinned the market.

Wheat was also firm as traders continued to assess the benefit of rainfall in dry crop belts across Europe.

"Trade relations between China and the US are squarely back in focus as the hoped for Phase 1 ag purchases seem to be limited by strong disagreements over coronavirus and Hong Kong," brokerage Allendale said in a note.

China's parliament on Thursday backed proposed national security legislation for Hong Kong against which Washington has promised to announce a response at the end of the week.

The diplomatic tensions, adding to a row over responsibility for a coronavirus pandemic, have tempered hopes that China will ramp up imports of US agricultural goods under a Phase 1 trade deal signed in January.

Soybean export sales to China reported by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) this week had raised expectations of renewed demand as China also looks to bolster grain reserves during the coronavirus pandemic.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 0.4pc at $8.45-1/4 a bushel by 1130 GMT, after earlier setting a two-week high at $8.52-1/4.

Soybeans like corn have also drawn some support from slower than anticipated progress in US planting last week.