SINGAPORE- Chicago soybean futures lost ground on Thursday, with prices pulling back from a five-week high touched earlier this week, as concerns over Chinese demand and expectations of a record Brazilian crop weighed on the market.
Corn and wheat ticked higher after closing lower in the last session.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade was down 0.3 percent at $9.25-3/4 a bushel, having closed little changed on Wednesday.
The market climbed to its highest since Nov. 8 on Tuesday.
Corn was up 0.1 percent at $3.87-1/2 a bushel, after closing down 0.8 percent in the previous session while wheat rose 0.1 percent to $5.48-1/2 a bushel, after ending 1.4 percent lower on Wednesday.
The long-awaited US-China ‘phase-one’ agreement agreed upon by the two sides last week includes a commitment by Beijing to expand purchases of US farm products.
But traders said they were wary about projections from Washington that deals will reach $40 billion to $50 billion within two years, compared with $24 billion before the trade dispute.
“It sounds kind of impossible that is what people are talking about,” said one Singapore-based trader. “We have a large Brazilian crop coming into the market early next year, which could limit the amount of US beans China can buy.”
Chinese importers bought at least two cargoes of US soybeans after receiving another round of tariff-free quota for US shipments on Tuesday, traders in both countries said. — Reuters
