GRAINS-Soybeans dip after rally, but Chinese buying hopes cap losses

SINGAPORE, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures slipped on Thursday, giving up some of the last session's gains, but expectations of Chinese buying kept prices near a three-month high.

Wheat ticked higher, while corn was almost flat.

FUNDAMENTALS

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 fell 0.1% to $11.47-1/2 a bushel as of 0123 GMT, having hit its highest since mid-November on Wednesday.

Wheat Wv1 added 0.3% to $5.54-1/2 a bushel and corn Cv1 was unmoved at $4.27 a bushel.

Traders are awaiting China's return to the market next week after the Lunar New Year break and see it buy more U.S. supplies.

Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump said China was considering making an additional purchase of 8 million metric tons.

In January, the U.S. soybean crush touched a record high for the first month of the year, while soyoil stocks ballooned to their highest since April 2023, according to monthly National Oilseed Processors Association data issued on Tuesday.

U.S. farmers, though punished by slumping prices after last year's monster corn harvest, are expected to cut back only slightly on their plantings of the grain in 2026 as they brace for a fourth straight year of narrow profit margins or even losses.

Ahead of annual outlook forum this week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, analysts surveyed by Reuters on average projected corn plantings for 2026 at 94.9 million acres, down about 4% from last year's 89-year high, but still the second-most corn acres in 13 years.

The poll put soybean plantings at 84.9 million acres, in line with the 10-year average and up from the 81 million acres seeded in 2025, a six-year low.

Recent rains have brought relief to soybean fields in Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, which had been grappling with hot, dry weather that compromised yield potential, according to weather service Rural Clima and LSEG meteorological data.

Brazil is expected to reap a record soybean crop of nearly 178 million metric tons in the 2025/26 marketing year.

MARKET NEWS

U.S. stocks rallied, European stocks notched a record closing high and crude oil prices rebounded on Wednesday as investors parsed the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting and assessed evolving geopolitical developments. MKTS/GLOB

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

1330 US International Trade Dec

1330 US Initial Jobless Clm Weekly

1330 US Philly Fed Business Indx Feb

1500 EU Consume Confid. Flash Feb