US soyabean futures dropped to a one-month low on Thursday as doubts over the chances for the United States and China to reach a trade deal soon hung over the market.
Corn futures inched up, while wheat slumped.
Price movements were limited by uncertainty over progress in talks between Washington and Beijing to resolve the trade war that has disrupted flows of agricultural goods.
The world's two largest economies are trying to finalize a limited deal that focuses largely on increased Chinese purchases of American farm products and the opening of China's financial services market.
"It all hinges the latest headlines or tweets on a partial deal with China," said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist for broker INTL FCStone.
US agricultural exports to China have suffered over the past year after Beijing in 2018 imposed steep retaliatory tariffs on American soyabeans and other farm goods as part of the trade war.
China and the United States are holding "in-depth" discussions on the first phase trade agreement and cancelling tariffs is an important condition to reaching a deal, the Chinese commerce ministry said.
China bought 129,000 tonnes of US soyabeans for delivery during the current marketing year, the US Agriculture Department said on Thursday. The sale - about two cargoes worth - was the first deal for farm products to China the US government has announced in a week.
The most-active soyabean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade was down 1 cent at $9.14-1/4 a bushel by 12:57 p.m. CST (1857 GMT) after dropping to its lowest price since Oct. 8 earlier in the session.
Corn was up 1/2 cent at $3.75-3/4 a bushel, and wheat fell 1-3/4 cents to $5.07-1/4 a bushel at the CBOT.
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