Chicago soybean futures fell on Thursday after President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded their meeting, as markets were disappointed by the lack of concrete details on agricultural purchases.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) fell 1.32% to $10.8 a bushel, as of 0516 GMT, retreating from a 15-month high hit in previous sessions.

“Large amounts, tremendous amounts of soybeans and other farm products are going to be purchased immediately,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One after his meeting with Xi.

He also said the U.S. would cut the fentanyl tariff on China to 10% from 20%. China has not released any information following the talks.

“There is nothing really there,” said Andrew Whitelaw, an analyst at Australian consultant Episode 3.

“The market was expecting a trade deal that was concrete and would resume the trade, but it’s not really all that concrete as far as we can see at the moment,” he added.

In a potential thaw of relations, China’s state-owned COFCO bought three U.S. soybean cargoes this week, the country’s first purchases of this year’s U.S. harvest, two trade sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

CBOT corn lost 1.09% to $4.29-1/4 a bushel, while wheat was down 1.32% at $5.25-1/4 a bushel.

Analysts estimated weekly U.S. soybean export sales of 600,000-1.6 million metric tons, corn sales of 1.1-2.1 million metric tons and wheat sales of 350,000-600,000 metric tons, according to a Reuters poll.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has suspended weekly export sales reports, normally published on Thursdays, due to the federal government shutdown.

Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybeans and grains on Wednesday, traders said.
Source: Reuters