US soybean futures rise over 1% weekly on US-China trade optimism

CHICAGO - Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures closed mixed in the trading week ended Feb 22, with soybeans rising over 1 percent, as traders awaited firmer indications that the United States and China were making progress on a new round of trade talks.

The most active contract for May soybeans were up 16.25 cents weekly, or 1.79 percent, to $9.075 per bushel. May wheat dropped 12.5 cents, or 2.48 percent, to $5.0425 per bushel. March corn went up 0.5 cent, or 0.13 percent, to $3.7525 per bushel.

China and the United States on Thursday started the 7th round of high-level economic and trade talks in Washington as negotiators strive to beat a 90-day deadline that ends on March 1.

US President Donald Trump on Friday met with Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He at the White House on bilateral ties and the ongoing bilateral trade talks.

During his meeting with Trump, Liu said over the past two days, China and the United States have engaged in productive talks, and achieved good progress in such areas as balance of trade, agriculture, technology transfer, protection of intellectual property rights, and financial services.

Trump said that "great progress" has been made in the past two days of talks, while there is still work to be done.

China has been the world's top soybean buyer. Any positive development in trade talks with the United States will naturally boost US soybean prices.

CBOT wheat futures dropped on traders' technical selling, while corn futures went up as grain markets watched for developments in the US-China trade talks.

In its latest report, the US Department of Agriculture said US corn export sales during the period were 6.086 million tons, lower than the forecasted 4 million to 7.25 million tons. But wheat export sales reached 3.819 million tons, exceeding the estimated 2 million to 3.3 million tons.