Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybean futures hit 16-month highs on Monday on expectations China will restart large-scale U.S. soy buying after the two countries reached a deal to de-escalate their trade war.
Wheat also rose on hopes of renewed Chinese buying and corn followed the higher trend.
Chicago Board of Trade benchmark January soybeans Sv1 gained 19 cents to close at $11.34-1/4 per bushel after reaching $11.34-1/2, the highest on a continuous chart of the most-active contract since June 2024.
CBOT December wheat WZ25 rose by 9-1/2 cents to $5.43-1/2 a bushel and December corn CZ25 gained 2-3/4 cents to close at $4.34-1/4 a bushel.
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Hopes for renewed Chinese demand continued to drive U.S. grain markets. Soy, wheat and corn futures briefly turned lower on news that Chinese soybean importers stepped up purchases of Brazilian cargoes in recent days, but markets quickly rallied again.
“There is still uncertainty on what the real deal is with China,” said Don Roose, president of Iowa-based U.S. Commodities. However, Roose said, “it sounds more positive than negative, so we just add more risk premium to the market.”
Technical buying accelerated at the start of a new month.
“Some of the (price) targets that we never thought we were going to get to are starting to look more realistic,” Roose said.
Markets rose last week after the U.S. said China would buy millions of tons of U.S. soybeans as part of a trade deal. China has shunned U.S. soybeans during the trade dispute, buying from South America instead.
Support also came from reports China was interested in buying U.S. wheat.
But the U.S. government shutdown is depriving dealers of news about new U.S. export sales via the usual daily flash sales announcements from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
China last week bought three U.S. soybean shipments, the country’s first purchases from this year’s U.S. harvest.
The White House on Saturday released details about the U.S.-China trade agreement including intended Chinese soybean purchases.
Dealers are awaiting announcements from China about reductions in punitive import tariffs on U.S. agricultural products which would open the door to more U.S. sales.
— Additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Naveen Thukral in Singapore. With files from Glacier FarmMedia.
