CHICAGO, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures closed mixed in the trading week ended Feb. 22, with soybeans rising over 1 percent, as traders awaited firmer indications that the United States and China were making progress on a new round of trade talks.
The most active contract for May soybeans were up 16.25 cents weekly, or 1.79 percent, to 9.075 U.S. dollars per bushel. May wheat dropped 12.5 cents, or 2.48 percent, to 5.0425 dollars per bushel. March corn went up 0.5 cent, or 0.13 percent, to 3.7525 dollars per bushel.
China and the United States on Thursday started the 7th round of high-level economic and trade talks in Washington as negotiators strive to beat a 90-day deadline that ends on March 1.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday met with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at the White House on bilateral ties and the ongoing bilateral trade talks.
During his meeting with Trump, Liu said over the past two days, China and the United States have engaged in productive talks, and achieved good progress in such areas as balance of trade, agriculture, technology transfer, protection of intellectual property rights, and financial services.
Trump said that "great progress" has been made in the past two days of talks, while there is still work to be done.
China has been the world's top soybean buyer. Any positive development in trade talks with the United States will naturally boost U.S. soybean prices.
CBOT wheat futures dropped on traders' technical selling, while corn futures went up as grain markets watched for developments in the U.S.-China trade talks.
In its latest report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said U.S. corn export sales during the period were 6.086 million tonnes, lower than the forecasted 4 million to 7.25 million tonnes. But wheat export sales reached 3.819 million tonnes, exceeding the estimated 2 million to 3.3 million tonnes.
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