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Chicago soybean prices ease on concerns over Chinese demand

Chicago soybean futures lost ground on Tuesday, falling for the first time in four sessions on concerns over a lack of Chinese demand for U.S. supplies amid a trade war with Washington and as the world’s No. 2 economy slows.

Corn and wheat futures ticked lower.

Asian shares and U.S. stock futures slipped on Tuesday as pessimism about world growth drove investors away from risky assets, while sterling dithered as the latest plan for Brexit appeared to come and go with no progress.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade had fallen 0.2 percent to $9.15 a bushel by 0347 GMT. It firmed 1 percent on Friday when prices climbed to their highest since Jan. 10 at $9.20-1/4 a bushel.

Corn was down 0.5 percent at $3.80 a bushel, having gained half-a-percent in the previous session. Wheat lost 0.1 percent to $5.17 a bushel, after closing unchanged on Friday.

The U.S. grains market was closed on Monday for a public holiday.

“There are two factors at play, one is Chinese and overall global growth worries and the other is the trade war, which is adding pressure particularly on soybeans,” said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist, National Australia Bank.

Rumours of large-scale U.S. grain purchases by China have roiled markets recently, but official confirmation of such deals has not been available due to the partial U.S. government shutdown that has shuttered numerous divisions of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

China’s economy cooled in the fourth quarter under pressure from faltering domestic demand and bruising U.S. tariffs, dragging 2018 growth to the lowest level in nearly three decades and pressuring Beijing to roll out more stimulus to avert a sharper slowdown.

Russian wheat export prices rose last week on seasonally lower supply, a stronger rouble and concerns over state plans to build up sectoral regulation, analysts said on Monday.

Stronger controls on grain exports are being considered by Russia’s state agriculture watchdog, while the agriculture ministry plans to regulate domestic grain prices through subsidies on rail transport from remote regions and other previously used mechanisms.

Grains prices at 0347 GMT
 Contract    Last    Change  Pct chg  Two-day chg  MA 30   RSI
 CBOT wheat  517.00  -0.75   -0.14%   -0.14%       518.84  55
 CBOT corn   380.00  -1.75   -0.46%   +0.00%       379.74  55
 CBOT soy    915.00  -1.75   -0.19%   +0.80%       910.38  64
 CBOT rice   10.58   -$0.04  -0.42%   +0.76%       $10.57  62
 WTI crude   53.54   -$0.26  -0.48%   +2.82%       $49.33  
 Currencies                                                
 Euro/dlr    $1.136  $0.000  -0.04%   -0.02%               
 USD/AUD     0.7142  -0.002  -0.22%   -0.35%

Most active contracts
Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight RSI 14, exponential
Source: Reuters(Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Joseph Radford)

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