Soybeans ease further on doubts over Chinese demand

U.S. soybean futures edged lower on Friday at the end of a see-saw week during which Chinese purchases of U.S. beans pushed prices to a 17-month high before doubts about whether China would sustain such buying punctured the rally. Corn and wheat futures also fell, with the absence of significant Chinese purchases of cereals keeping attention on comfortable global supply. Weakness in share prices, as investors worried about tech valuations and U.S. interest rates, and in oil prices amid a U.S. push to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, added pressure on grains. The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.3% at $11.18-3/4 a bushel at 1314 GMT, moving further back from Tuesday’s peak of $11.69-1/2, the highest since June 2024. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday confirmed that China this week bought more than 1.5 million metric tons of soybeans and 132,000 tons of U.S. white wheat. However, China’s soybean purchases remain far off ...