GRAINS-Chicago soybeans, wheat rise amid trade deal hopes, US-China talks

By Ella Cao and Lewis Jackson

BEIJING, May 8 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean and wheat futures gained on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump hinted at a potential trade deal with an unspecified country, while upcoming U.S.-China talks in Switzerland also boosted investor sentiment.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 0.19% to $10.41 a bushel by 0427 GMT, recovering from three days of losses. Wheat climbed 0.23% to $5.36 a bushel.

Trump said late on Wednesday that he would announce details about a "major trade deal with representatives of a big, and highly respected, country." The New York Times reported that the deal is with Britain.

Markets are also closely watching U.S.-China relations, particularly after the announcement that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and chief trade negotiator Jamieson Greer will meet China's economic tsar He Lifeng in Switzerland this weekend.

Sentiment dipped after President Trump said on Wednesday he would not preemptively lower tariffs on Chinese goods ahead of tariff talks. In response, China's embassy in Washington reiterated the $19 trillion economy's position that the U.S. should stop pressuring it.

China, the world's top soybean importer, purchases a significant share of U.S. exports.

In Brazil, soybean exports could fall 900,000 tons in May from April this year and May last year to 12.6 million tons despite a record harvest, according to grain exporters’ association Anec.

Favourable weather conditions across the U.S. Midwest are expected to support smooth planting of corn and soybeans, while rains in the Black Sea wheat belt pressured wheat prices.

Corn Cv1 traded flat at $4.49-2/8 a bushel, hovering near a one-month low, pressured by favourable weather and the upcoming Brazilian corn harvest.

Markets also reacted to the Federal Reserve's decision to keep rates unchanged and are positioning ahead of the USDA report on Monday, which will offer the first supply-demand estimates for fiscal 2026, likely factoring in tariff impacts, analysts and traders said.