Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean futures closed down over one percent on Wednesday, mostly on concerns about demand amid few signs of new demand from China.
According to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), China purchased more than 2.7 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans in the past two weeks. Traders had expected that China would buy more soybeans, market watchers said.
U.S. farmers hope China will buy other farm products, such as corn and grain sorghum, along with soybeans.
However, there were no sales confirmed this week, and USDA is not publishing details of daily export sales during the federal government's partial shutdown.
CBOT wheat futures remained under pressure after Russia, the world's top wheat supplier, raised its grain export forecast last week.
Corn futures went down on investors' technical selling, as a lack of fresh information was unable to propel the grains.
At the end of the session, the most active corn contract for March delivery went down 4.5 cents, or 1.19 percent to at 3.7325 dollars per bushel. March wheat delivery was down 6.5 cents, or 1.26 percent to at 5.1 dollars per bushel. March soybean delivery was down 14 cents, or 1.56 percent to at 8.83 dollars per bushel.
