Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures rose on Monday, bouncing back from their lowest in more than five weeks on a round of technical buying and signs that Chinese demand for export supplies was picking up, traders said. Wheat futures dropped, on track for their fourth straight losing session, falling through key technical support points to hit their lowest since April 27. Corn futures were close to unchanged.
Soyabean futures sagged to their lowest since April 4 during overnight trading following a 1.3 percent drop on Friday. At 10:14 a.m. CDT (1514 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade July soyabean futures were up 14 cents at $10.17-1/4 a bushel.
The US Agriculture Department reported weekly soyabean export inspections of 688,195 tonnes. That topped analysts' forecasts for 450,000 tonnes to 650,000 tonnes and included 128,688 tonnes of supplies headed to China.
Traders also cited hopes that Chinese soyabean purchases would pick up amid signs of easing trade tensions with the world's largest buyer of the oilseed. US President Donald Trump pledged on Sunday to help ZTE Corp after a US ban crippled the Chinese technology company, offering a job-saving concession to Beijing ahead of high-stakes trade talks this week. Sources said China was willing in principle to import more US agriculture products in return for Washington smoothing out penalties against ZTE, but they did not offer details.
CBOT July soft red winter wheat futures were 7-3/4 cents lower at $4.91 a bushel.
K.C. hard red winter wheat for July delivery, which tracks the crop being grown in the Plains, were off 1.5 percent and on pace for their seventh straight session of declines. CBOT July corn futures were unchanged at $3.96-1/2 a bushel.