CBOT soybeans set two-month high on hopes for China export business

CHICAGO, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures set a two-month high on Thursday on hopes that a potential thaw in U.S. trade relations with top global soy buyer China could spur fresh purchases of the oilseed, analysts said.

• CBOT March soybeans SH26 settled up 13-1/4 cents, or 1.2%, at $11.37-1/4 per bushel after reaching $11.41-1/2, the contract's highest since December 2.

• CBOT March soymeal SMH26 ended up $4.90, or 1.6%, at $307.90 per short ton and March soyoil BOH26 rose 0.49 cent, or 0.9%, to finish at 57.54 cents per pound.

• Most CBOT soyoil futures contracts 0#BO: set life-of-contract highs.

• A report in the South China Morning Post said that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a meeting in early April could extend their countries' trade truce for as long as a year.

• The report followed a comment last week from Trump saying that China had increased its target for U.S. soybean purchases under a trade truce agreed in late October.

• Given the shifting U.S.-China dynamics, traders are wary of holding short positions in soybeans ahead of a long U.S. holiday weekend, analysts said.

• Traders shook off pressure from rising estimates of the soy harvest in Brazil, the world's biggest supplier.

• Brazilian crop agency Conab raised its estimate of the country's soybean crop to a record 177.98 million metric tons, from its January forecast of 176.12 million. The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week raised its view of Brazil's crop to 180 million tons.

• Paraguay is on track to produce a record soy harvest of more than 10 million tons, analysts and producers said.

• Weekly U.S. soybean export data fell below trade expectations. The USDA reported net sales of old-crop U.S. soybeans in the week ended February 5 at 281,800 tons, below trade expectations for 300,000 to 1,100,000 tons and a low for the 2025/26 marketing year that began September 1.

• Separately, under its daily reporting rules, the USDA confirmed private sales of 108,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to Egypt.