CHICAGO, Jan. 30 -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures settled higher on Wednesday as the United States and China held a new round of high-level trade talks in Washington.
The most active corn contract for March delivery was up 4 cents, or 1.06 percent to close at 3.8125 U.S. dollars per bushel. March wheat was up 3.5 cents, or 1.06 percent, to settle at 5.1675 dollars, while March soybeans were up 2 cents, or 0.22 percent, to close at 9.21 dollars per bushel.
"All eyes will be on U.S.-China negotiations in the next 48 hours and all markets will be sensitive to comments made on either side," AgResource, a Chicago-based agricultural research firm, wrote in a commentary.
China has been the top buyer of U.S. soybeans for years. Farmers and traders believe that positive outcome of bilateral talks could lead to higher Chinese demand for U.S. agricultural products.
Concerns over Brazil's crop yields also supported the prices of CBOT soybeans and corn. Despite some rain in central Brazil this past weekend, hot and dry weather conditions already affected the crops there, said market watchers, who lowered the yield estimates.
"They dropped the 2019 crop estimates in Brazil plus they lowered the exports estimates for 2019," said Virginia McGathey, McGathey Commodities.
CBOT wheat also rebounded on Wednesday after losses in the past four sessions.