U.S. wheat and soybean prices were up in early trade on Monday, extending gains on hopes that China will ramp up soy purchases following a recently struck trade deal with the United States.
China, the world's largest consumer of soybeans, and the United States struck a "Phase 1" trade deal earlier in December that includes a commitment by Beijing to increase purchases of U.S. agricultural products.
Corn Futures
Corn futures however traded lower on Monday following a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday that announced corn export sales at the lower end of expectations.
The USDA reported export sales of U.S. corn in the week to Dec. 19 at 626,100 tonnes (old and new crop years combined), toward the low end of trade expectations for 500,000 to 1,200,000 tonnes.
Fundamentals
The most active soybeans futures, which rose to their highest since June 2018 in the previous session, were up 0.2% at $9.43-1/4 a bushel at around 0150 GMT on Monday.
The most active wheat futures were slightly up 0.01% at $5.56-3/4 a bushel, in line for a fourth straight session of gains.
The most active corn futures were down 0.3% at $3.89 a bushel.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture in a weekly report said export sales of U.S. wheat last week were 714,900 tonnes, toward the high end of analysts' expectations for 200,000 tonnes to 900,000 tonnes.
Adverse Weather
Expected adverse weather across Ukraine may significantly damage winter grain crops, especially those that were sown late, consultancy APK-Inform quoted Ukrainian agricultural scientists as saying on Friday.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
