Soybeans ease after rally, hopes of Chinese demand limit losses

Chicago soybean futures slid on Monday, as the market took a breather after climbing to its highest since early April in the previous session on expectations of strong Chinese demand.

Wheat lost more ground on U.S. winter crop harvest, while corn slid after three sessions of gains.

“U.S. spot soybeans are at a deeper discount to Brazil soybeans,” said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. “That discount is one important tick in the box for China’s importers to keep buying U.S. beans.”

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade fell 0.1% to $8.76 a bushel by 0225 GMT, after rising 0.4% on Friday when prices hit a April 1 high of $8.80-1/2 a bushel.

Wheat was down 0.4% at $4.83-1/2 a bushel, having hit a September 2019 low of $4.76 a bushel on Friday and corn fell 0.3% to $3.31-1/2 a bushel.

Talks last week between U.S. and Chinese officials encouraged hopes that Beijing would continue to buy American farm goods as called for under a trade agreement.

The condition of French soft wheat was stable for a third week in a row last week, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on Friday, suggesting showers and moderate temperatures have brought some relief to crops after a very dry spring.

Large speculators trimmed their net short position in CBOT corn futures in the week to June 16, regulatory data released on Friday showed.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly commitments of traders report also showed that noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, increased their net short position in CBOT wheat and switched to a net long position in soybeans. Source: Reuters Reuters (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)