Chicago | Reuters—Chicago corn and soybeans settled up after whipsawing back and forth on Monday, fueled by tariff news and weather risks, according to analysts.
Wheat firmed on a dry weather forecast in the U.S. wheat belt.
The most active soybean contract Sv1 on the Chicago Board of Trade settled up 6 cents to $9.83 a bushel, having hit lows not seen since December 20.
Corn Cv1 rose 4-1/4 cents to $4.64-1/2 a bushel and wheat Wv1 rose 7-1/2 cents to $5.36-1/2 a bushel.
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Headlines about sweeping tariffs imposed by the administration of President Donald Trump on imports into the U.S. weighed on corn and soybean markets on Monday.
That included news of Trump saying he would impose an additional 50 per cent duty on U.S. imports from China on Wednesday if the world’s No. 2 economy did not withdraw the 34 per cent tariffs it had imposed on U.S. products last week. Those Chinese tariffs had come in response to 34 per cent duties announced by Trump.
“I think that kind of limits gains for now,” said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist at StoneX.
The markets briefly found strength from a report that Trump was considering a 90-day tariff pause, then turned negative again after the White House dismissed the report as “fake news.”
“This week I think we’ll get more of this roller-coaster effect as the market tries to balance between, ‘Are we making progress or are we not making progress,'” said Suderman, referring to tariff negotiation news.
Corn found some strength, however, from weather threats in growing regions, Suderman added.
Heavy rain caused planting delays in the U.S. Ohio Valley and northern Delta, while in South America, dry weather will create stress for safrinha corn in some parts of Brazil, according to weather forecaster Maxar.
Limited rain this week in the U.S. Central and Southern Plains is expected to expand dryness for the region’s wheat crop, according to Maxar’s forecast.
—Additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Ella Cao and Lewis Jackson in Beijing
