GRAINS-Soybeans, corn rise ahead US-China talks; wheat eases

By Naveen Thukral

SINGAPORE, June 9 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean and corn futures rose for the fifth consecutive session Monday, with both markets driven higher by optimism over U.S.-China trade ahead of talks between the two agricultural trading partners later in the day.

Wheat prices fell for the first time in four sessions.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade Sv1 (CBOT) added 0.2% to $10.59 a bushel as of 0405 GMT, having climbed to a one-week high on Friday.

Corn Cv1 rose 0.6% to $4.45-1/4 a bushel, while wheat Wv1 gave up 0.1% to $5.54-1/4 a bushel.

Three of U.S. President Donald Trump's top aides will meet with their Chinese counterparts in London on Monday for talks aimed at resolving a trade dispute between the world's two largest economies that has kept global markets on edge.

Agricultural markets were supported last week on trade optimism after Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping confronted weeks of brewing trade tensions in a rare leader-to-leader call.

On the weather front, rains helped improve soil moisture in parts of the U.S. Southern Plains and the Midwest, according to forecaster Vaisala.

But dryness lingers in north central Kansas, southeastern Nebraska, Iowa, southern Minnesota, northern Illinois, northern Indiana and western Ohio, according to the forecaster. That dryness could stress germination and early growth of corn and soybeans.

Ratings for French wheat and barley crops edged lower in the week to June 2, extending a decline in the past month as a dry spring has left northerly regions parched, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on Friday.

Ukraine's grain exports in the 2025/26 July-June season are expected to fall to 35 million metric tons in the worst scenario against a forecast of 40 million tons in 2024/25, following a lower harvest, its first deputy agriculture minister Taras Vysotskiy told Reuters on Friday.

Large speculators increased their net short position in CBOT corn futures in the week to June 3, regulatory data released on Friday showed.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly commitments of traders report also showed that noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, trimmed their net short position in CBOT wheat and increased their net short position in soybeans.