Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures weakened on Thursday, with traders expressing disappointment about demand from China.

Soyabean futures have fallen for three of the past four sessions.

The most-active March contract firmed early in overnight trading but turned lower after failing to top Wednesday's high of $8.98-1/4 a bushel.

Soyameal and soyaoil futures also fell.

CBOT March soyaoil hit technical resistance at its 200-day moving average.

US Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Thursday he anticipates that China will "start ramping up" purchases under the Phase 1 deal by this spring, depending on the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

US soyabean acreage for 2020 was seen at 85.0 million acres, the USDA said. That compares with the average market estimate of 84.6 million acres.

Analysts expect a USDA report on Friday to show weekly export sales of soyabeans in a range from 600,000 tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes. That compares with 651,148 tonnes last week.