By Faridat Salifu
U.S. soybean futures closed sharply lower on Friday as renewed trade tensions between Washington and Beijing pressured grain markets and weighed on investor sentiment.
At the Chicago Board of Trade, November soybeans fell more than 15¢ to settle at $10.15 per bushel. December corn lost 5¼¢ to close at $4.13 per bushel.
Wheat contracts also ended the session in the red, with December CBOT wheat down 8¢ at $4.98½ per bushel, December Kansas City wheat off 6¾¢ at $4.83, and December Minneapolis wheat slipping 5¼¢ to $5.51¾.
Earlier in the day, Noami Blohm, senior market advisor with Total Farm Marketing, said the declines were driven by escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China, which sent grains “sharply lower.”
The selloff followed comments from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who said Washington was considering a “massive” tariff increase on Chinese products after Beijing moved to restrict exports of critical minerals.
“Trade wars are harmful to everyone, and these latest developments are deeply disappointing,” the American Soybean Association (ASA) said in a statement after Trump indicated that a planned meeting with China’s president may be canceled.
The ASA said it had hoped the talks would restore U.S. soybean exports to China, historically the largest market for American growers, and urged both sides to resume dialogue to “restore markets and trade relationships.”
In livestock markets, December live cattle climbed $2.63 to close at $242.53 per hundredweight (cwt), while November feeder cattle added $1.85 to $375.90 per cwt. December lean hogs slipped 33¢ to $84.03 per cwt.
Energy prices also weakened, with December crude oil dropping $2.60 to $58.43 per barrel as of mid-afternoon trading.
Broader markets were under pressure as well. By 2:12 p.m. CT, the S&P 500 Index was down 149.31 points, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 714.57 points.
Analysts earlier noted that favorable U.S. harvest weather and limited export demand contributed to the day’s losses across grain and oilseed futures.