Chicago | Reuters – Chicago soybean futures ticked up on Wednesday as traders eyed Chinese purchases of U.S. beans under a bilateral trade truce and adjusted positions before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, analysts said.
The oilseed market remained underpinned by indications of Chinese demand, with traders telling Reuters that China bought at least 10 cargoes of U.S. soybeans since Tuesday. That followed a call on Monday between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, during which Trump said he had pressed Xi to accelerate and increase China’s purchases of U.S. goods.
Doubts that China will buy the 12 million metric tons cited by the United States as an agreed target for the end of December kept a lid on the market, however.
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The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 ended up 6-3/4 cents at $11.31-1/2 a bushel.
In cereals, CBOT wheat Wv1 settled up 1-1/4 cents at $5.40-1/2 a bushel and CBOT corn Cv1 climbed 7 cents to end at $4.45-1/4 a bushel.
The Chicago Board of Trade will close for the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday. Trading is expected to be relatively thin during a shortened session on Friday.
The corn market also firmed as traders considered China’s U.S. soybean purchases, said Mark Soderberg, grains research analyst at ADM Investor Services.
“Could China be sniffing around now for a little bit of U.S. corn? Maybe we’ll hear rumors of that to justify today’s strength,” Soderberg said.
In wheat, a sharp fall in exports from Ukraine due to a rain-delayed harvest and Russian strikes on railway infrastructure supported futures as uncertainty continued about the prospects for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
Meanwhile, falling Russian prices, harvesting in Argentina and Australia, and results from a Saudi import tender on Monday have kept attention on strong competition in a well-supplied market.
-Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Peter Hobson in Canberra.
