U.S. grains: Soybeans, corn choppy as trade awaits U.S. crop tour results

Chicago | Reuters—Chicago soybean and corn futures chopped up and down on Monday as industry players awaited the results of this week’s annual Pro Farmer crop tour in the U.S. Midwest, traders said.

Wheat futures ticked lower on technical selling, though an uptick in export demand provided underlying support.

The crop tour will estimate corn yields and gauge soybean production potential across seven U.S. states after forecasts by the U.S. Agriculture Department last week of a record-large U.S. corn crop.

Expectations that the closely watched tour will show a large U.S. corn harvest also weakened corn futures.

Chicago Board of Trade most-active corn futures Cv1ended 1-1/4 cents higher to $4.06-1/2 per bushel. Most-active soybeans Sv1settled 1-1/4 cents lower to $10.41-1/4a bushel.

Corn and soy futures remained under pressure from favorable U.S. weather and concerns over low export demand as trade tensions between the United States and top buyer China continued.

U.S. President Donald Trump urged China last week to quadruple its soybean purchases, but news was lacking about progress in U.S.-China trade talks, while U.S. soybean exporters are missing out on China sales.

Wheat Wv1settled 3-3/4 cents lower at $5.02-3/4 per bushel.

“I don’t think wheat is going to go up and down very far,” said Jack Scoville, vice president of Price Futures Group. “We’re going to keep an eye on what’s going on in the Black Sea, but the situation is rather unclear right now.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday he was ready to work to end the war with Russia ahead of talks with Trump in Washington, where he could face pressure to accept terms favorable to Moscow. European leaders have arrived at the White House ahead of the meeting.

Ukraine and Russia are major grain exporters.

—Additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Ella Cao and Lewis Jackson in Beijing.