GRAINS-Soybeans steady as traders hope for more Chinese buying

By P.J. Huffstutter

CHICAGO, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures inched higher on Tuesday after comments by the Trump administration bolstered expectations of further Chinese purchases under a bilateral trade truce, market analysts said.

Chinese purchases of American soybeans are "right on schedule," U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday, citing an agreement for Beijing to buy 87.5 million metric tons of the U.S. product over the next three and a half years.

Two cargo vessels were en route to grain terminals near New Orleans on Monday to load China's first U.S. soybean shipments since May, a shipping schedule showed. The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week announced China bought nearly 1.6 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans last week, and reported a further 123,000 tons on Monday.

Trump's comments on Monday, in which he said he had spoken to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about topics including U.S. farm products, also put traders' focus back on more potential demand. But a lack of fresh details, and continued market uncertainty over Chinese commitments to buy U.S. farm goods, kept a cap on soybean prices, analysts said.

"For soybeans in particular, the reality is we're still $1 higher than Brazil," said Brodrick Schmidt, a commodity broker at U.S. Commodities in West Des Moines, Iowa. "People are coming to grips that we may need to cut back to get that export demand."

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 was up 0.09% at $11.24-1/4 a bushel as of 12:34 p.m. CST (1834 GMT).

Wheat and corn edged higher, recovering from losses since late last week, but still traded within a relatively narrow range as traders began squaring positions ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday. Grain markets also drew support from rising investor expectations for a U.S. interest rate cut next month. MKTS/GLOB

The corn cash market remained firm this week, as grain buyers looked to stock up ahead of the holiday and amid weather forecasts for a winter storm moving through the Great Lakes and Midwest, market analysts said.

CBOT corn futures Cv1 were up 0.29% at $4.38 a bushel, steadying after a two-day drop.

CBOT wheat Wv1 was up 0.79% at $5.39 a bushel, regaining ground after a four-session slide. But prices remained under pressure from falling Russian prices, harvesting in Argentina and Australia, and results from a Saudi import tender on Monday have kept attention on strong competition in a well-supplied wheat market.