SINGAPORE/PARIS: Chicago soybean futures eased on Thursday as market players booked profits after prices hit a near two-week high in the previous session, ahead of trade talks between Washington and Beijing at the G20 meeting.
Wheat waned after rising the previous day, while corn was little changed.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade was down 0.6 percent at $8.85-1/4 a bushel, as of 1223 GMT, having firmed 3.3 percent on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Wheat also fell 0.6 percent to $5.08-1/4 a bushel and corn was down 0.2 percent at $3.72-1/2 a bushel.
Participants in the soybean market are awaiting any sign of a thaw in US-China trade relations at the G20 meeting to be
held on Friday and Saturday.
"Most traders are hopeful that some sort of reconciliation may come from the meeting, although not many expect any real details of a deal," said Ole Houe, director of advisory services at brokerage IKON Commodities in Sydney.
"The market, however, does want to find a reason to rally as long as traders can find any kind of confidence in the meeting, then we add 20 cents-30 cents more quickly."
US President Donald Trump is open to a trade deal with China, but is prepared to hike tariffs on Chinese imports if there is no breakthrough on long-standing trade irritants during a Saturday night dinner with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said.
China will widen market access for foreign investors and step up protection of intellectual property rights, Xi said.
The US Department of Agriculture said private exporters in the last day sold 268,748 tonnes of US soybeans to unknown destinations.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn, soybean, soyoil, wheat and soymeal futures contracts on Wednesday, traders said. Estimates of net fund buying in corn ranged from 12,000 to 25,000 contracts.
"Ethanol prices in the USA are at their lowest since 2005,
which limits the upside potential of corn for the time being," French consultancy Agritel said.
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