Soybeans firm as US-China talks assessed, wheat steady after fall

• Corn was little changed as traders continued to monitor weather-delayed US harvesting.
• Brazil's 2019/2020 soybean crop, in the final phase of planting, could reach a record 122.7 million tonnes.
• The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was up 0.6pc at $8.76-1/2 a bushel.

PARIS: Chicago soybean futures edged higher on Wednesday as investors took a more hopeful view on chances for a US-Chinese trade agreement, while wheat also firmed after a two-day slide.

Corn was little changed as traders continued to monitor weather-delayed US harvesting.

Broadly favourable crop conditions in South America were continuing to cap US soybean and corn, analysts said.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was up 0.6pc at $8.76-1/2 a bushel, holding above Monday's near three-month low of $8.67-1/2.

Share prices recovered some ground after losses on Tuesday when US President Donald Trump said a trade deal with China might have to wait until after the 2020 US presidential election.

Investors were reassured by a Bloomberg report that Beijing and Washington were moving closer to a deal.

However, reaction on grain markets, which have been buffeted by disruption to massive US soybeans exports to China, was moderate given the protracted nature of the talks.

"Soybean prices look to have a limited upward potential considering the positive weather conditions currently in place in Brazil," consultancy Agritel said.

Brazil's 2019/2020 soybean crop, in the final phase of planting, could reach a record 122.7 million tonnes, according to the average forecast in a Reuters survey of 16 market analysts.

CBOT corn inched up 0.1pc to $3.81-1/2 a bushel.

Corn drew some support from the slight bounce in wheat, as well as ongoing uncertainty about weather-delayed US harvest.

In its weekly crop progress report on Monday, the US Department of Agriculture said 89pc of US corn was harvested, up just 5 points from a week earlier and compared with the five-year average of 98pc.

Wheat added 0.7pc to $5.28-3/4 a bushel.

It earlier touched a one-week low at $5.22-1/4, in a pullback from last Friday's five-month high.

"The rally in wheat prices was overdone and not really connected to global prices," said Ole Houe, director of advisory services at brokerage IKON Commodities in Sydney.

"World supplies remain plentiful despite the Australian drought and at the moment the task of the world market is to simply chew through stocks."

Egypt's state grain buyer GASC on Tuesday bought 295,000 tonnes of Russian wheat in an international tender at which no US wheat was offered.