US-China Summit Looms Large Over Soybean Futures

Soybean futures remained steady on Tuesday ahead of the highly anticipated US-China summit scheduled for Thursday. Market participants are waiting to see if Beijing will commit to new purchases and remove a 10% import duty on soybeans. The outcome could significantly impact Chinese imports of American agricultural products.

The most actively traded CBOT soybean futures rose by half a cent to $13.28-1/2 a bushel, while the contract had earlier moved close to a nearly three-year high of $13.35-1/4 reached on September 11.

Don Roose, president of Iowa-based brokerage U.S. Commodities, said 'We're on hold, waiting to see what comes out of the meeting.' Harvest activity continued to progress across the US Midwest, with farmers bringing in fresh supplies. The US Department of Agriculture reported that the corn harvest was 13% complete as of Sunday and soybeans were 12% harvested, both ahead of their five-year averages.