SINGAPORE- Chicago soybeans futures edged higher on Tuesday as the market took a breather after four sessions of losses amid optimism over trade talks between Washington and Beijing.
Wheat slid, giving up some of the previous session’s gains that drove the market to its highest in more than a month on potentially tighter world supplies.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.1 percent at $8.93-3/4 a bushel, while corn gave up 0.1 percent to $3.70 a bushel.
Wheat lost 0.3 percent to $5.31-1/2 a bushel, after hitting its highest since Oct. 21 at $5.34-3/4 a bushel on Monday.
“There is some optimism on the trade front but it is hard to make a prediction where that might end up. We will have to wait and see what happens,” said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank.
“We are a bit sceptical about the rally in wheat prices as the global market is not in a situation of a supply constraint.”
China and the United States are “moving closer to agreeing” on a “phase one” trade deal, the Global Times, a tabloid run by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, reported on Sunday.
But the report noted that Washington and Beijing had not agreed on specifics or size of rollbacks of tariffs on Chinese goods. Beijing’s insistence that Washington roll back the Trump administration’s tariffs has been a major sticking point.
Chinese buyers scooped up at least 20 cargoes of Brazilian soybeans last week as uncertainty over a trade deal with the United States sent them rushing to lock in supplies, traders said on Monday. — Reuters
