CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures finished slightly higher on Friday but posted a second weekly loss after China made large purchases of Argentine cargoes this week, snubbing US supplies. Wheat and corn futures closed lower.
Soybeans came under pressure this week from China’s lack of demand for the US crop due to tit-for-tat tariffs in the trade war between Beijing and Washington.
US soybean farmers have been shut out of China, their top export market, during this harvest season as Beijing’s retaliatory tariffs have made their crops prohibitively expensive for Chinese buyers.
After Buenos Aires briefly suspended grain export taxes this week, around 40 Argentine soybean cargoes were registered for export in November and December, mostly headed to China, two traders told Reuters.
These purchases directly eat into the prime US marketing season. On Thursday, Argentina reinstated export taxes. “That news has been digested and the taxes have been implemented, so soybeans should have seen the bulk of selling from that news item,” said Brian Hoops, president of Midwest Market Solutions.
CBOT November soybeans SX25 ended 1-1/2 cents higher at USD10.13-3/4 per bushel. The contract dropped about 1.1 percent for the week. When asked if China would purchase US soybeans, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson said Washington should remove tariffs on Chinese products that Beijing considered unreasonable.
The advancing US soy and corn harvests put further supply pressure on futures prices, though doubts over the size of corn yields have lent support to that market.