Soybeans rise ahead of G20 talks, wheat declines
CHICAGO: US soybean futures firmed on Tuesday as brokers adjusted positions ahead of trade talks between China and the United States at the upcoming G20 meeting.
Corn was choppy and wheat futures fell after the market was unable to hold early advances despite supportive fundamental news, including US winter wheat planting delays.
In addition, concerns eased about political tension between Russia and Ukraine potentially disrupting wheat shipments.
As of 1:11 p.m. CST (1911 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures were up 13-1/4 cents at $8.75-1/2 per bushel and December corn was up 1/4 cent at $3.56-1/4 a bushel.
CBOT December wheat was down 9-1/2 cents at $4.98 a bushel.
Soybean futures recouped much of Monday's 2 percent sell-off, and the January contract climbed back above its 50-day moving average.
The trade's focus is on the G20 summit meeting in Argentina later this week, where US President Donald Trump is expected to meet with China's Xi Jinping for the first time since the world's two largest economies imposed tariffs on each other's imports.
"We have not done anything in beans except bounce around. All the grains, really, are waiting to see what happens over the weekend. Will they make some progress, or will the stalemate continue? That's going to determine the direction," said Terry Linn, analyst with Linn & Associates in Chicago.
"US soybean exports to China have been all but stopped because of the trade war. The market is positioning as participants wait to see whether there will be any signs of a trade deal allowing US soybean exports to China to resume," said Charles Clack, agricultural commodity analyst at Rabobank.
Trump is prepared to hike tariffs on Chinese imports if there is no breakthrough, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said.
The US Department of Agriculture late on Monday said the US soybean harvest was 94 percent complete, behind the five-year average of 98 percent.
The USDA said the US corn harvest was also 94 percent complete, compared with the five-year average of 96 percent.
The US winter wheat crop was 95 percent planted, lagging the five-year average of 99 percent. The USDA rated 55 percent of the crop as good to excellent, down from 56 percent a week ago.
Grain shipments from Ukrainian ports on the Azov Sea could fall if Russia continues its actions, although the impact would be limited, Ukraine's acting agriculture minister said.
Grain exports were moving normally, Ukraine's Agriculture Ministry said in a statement later on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Sovecon, a Russian agricultural consultancy, said it raised its forecast of Russia's 2018/19 wheat exports to 34.7 million tonnes, from 34.2 million previously.