CHICAGO: US soyabean futures were narrowly mixed in choppy trade on Monday as brokers weighed pressure from rising US-China trade tensions against news of fresh US soyabean sales to the Asian country, traders said.
Corn fell on an above-average planting pace and fair weather forecasts across the US Midwest that should support crop prospects, and wheat also declined.
The most-active soyabean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 3/4 cent at $8.40 a bushel at 12:48 p.m. CDT (1848 GMT).
CBOT corn fell 2-1/4 cents to $3.23-1/2 a bushel while CBOT wheat was down 2-1/2 cents at $5.18-1/4 a bushel.
China, the world's top soya buyer, has told state-owned firms to halt purchases of soyabeans and pork from the United States, two people familiar with the matter said, after Washington said it would eliminate special treatment for Hong Kong to punish Beijing.
"The fact that China may reduce or slow down imports of US soyabeans, pork or any ag product certainly does not bode well," said Mark Schultz, chief analyst at Northstar Commodity.
However, Chinese state-owned firms bought at least three cargoes of US soyabeans for fall shipment from the Pacific Northwest, according to US traders.
Meanwhile, warm, dry weather in the western half of the Corn Belt should benefit newly planted corn and soyabeans, while persistent cool, wet conditions east of the Mississippi River bear watching.
"We really need warmer temperatures to dry the fields out, speed emergence of already-planted crops, and finish seeding," said Brian Hoops, senior market analyst at Midwest Market Solutions.
Ahead of the US Department of Agriculture's weekly crop progress report due later on Monday, analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the government to show the US corn crop as 94% planted and the soyabean crop as 79% planted.
Wheat futures slumped on reports of a strong start to the US harvest in Texas and parts of Oklahoma, although drought concerns in Europe and Russia underpinned prices.
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