Soybeans continue slide on trade tensions, tumbling soyoil
CHICAGO: Chicago soybean futures slid for the second session on Tuesday as worries over international trade tensions and falling soyoil futures weighed on prices, analysts said.
Corn futures were mixed as steady planting progress in the US and Brazil's upcoming harvest added pressure, while wheat crept higher on technical trading. Most active Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures were last down 8-1/4 cents to $10.37-1/4 per bushel as of 1610 GMT.
The most active corn contract was last down 1/2 cent to $4.53 a bushel and CBOT wheat was up 5 cents to $5.36-1/4 a bushel. Demand for US soybeans from China, the world's biggest soy importer, has vanished amid the ongoing US-China trade war.
Market players are continuing to await clearer indications that Washington and Beijing could enter negotiations to resolve their tariff standoff.
'The White House says they're working on all these deals but we're not getting any announcements and the trade is getting tired of this,' Tom Fritz, broker at EFG Group, said.
Soyoil futures have taken a beating as a lack of biofuel blending mandates from the Environmental Protection Agency and cuts to the EPA budget prompted long liquidation and weighed on the entire soy complex, traders said.
Meanwhile, traders said hot, dry weather in the major grain-growing province of Henan has raised concerns about wheat growth and led to short covering.
'Having a weather problem in China is important and might increase their appetite for wheat imports,' Dan Basse, president of AgResource Company, said.
However, rain in the Black Sea region and a boost to US harvest prospects have continued to weigh on prices. The USDA's weekly update showed that corn planting was 40% complete, ahead of the five-year average of 39% but slightly below analyst expectations of 41%.
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