GRAINS-Soybean prices up for 2nd session on US-China trade hopes - Reuters

* Soybeans extend gains as U.S.-China set to resume trade talks * Drought cuts Australia's wheat production to 11-year low (Adds comment, detail) By Naveen Thukral Feb 19 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures rose for a second session on Tuesday as optimism about a trade deal between Washington and Beijing underpinned the market. Wheat prices lost ground, but were offered some support from concerns over lower production in Australia, typically the world's fourth-largest exporter. The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was up 0.3 percent at $9.10 a bushel by 0401 GMT, having firmed 0.4 percent on Friday. The market was closed on Monday for a U.S. public holiday. Wheat slid 0.1 percent to $5.03-3/4 a bushel, having closed down 0.5 percent on Friday. Corn was up 0.3 percent at $3.75-3/4, having closed unchanged in the previous session. A new round of talks between the United States and China to resolve their trade war will take place in Washington on Tuesday, with follow-up sessions at a higher level later in the week, the White House said on Monday. The talks follow a round of negotiations that ended last week in Beijing without a deal but which officials said had generated progress on contentious issues between the two trading partners. "The focus in soybean markets is on U.S.-China trade talks, and people are expecting the two countries to resolve their trade dispute," said a Singapore-based trader. The U.S. soybean crush in January was the fourth largest for any month on record and the biggest-ever for the first month of the year, topping most trade estimates, according to National Oilseed Processors Association data released on Friday. Australia's wheat production fell to an 11-year low during the 2018/19 season, the country's chief commodity forecaster said on Tuesday, after an east coast drought wilted crops. Output totalled 17.3 million tonnes, down from 21.24 million tonnes a year earlier, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences said in its final tally for the recently harvested crop. Elsewhere, Algeria's state grains agency last week bought 600,000 tonnes of milling wheat at a tender at around $247 to $247.50 per tonne, cost and freight included, European traders said. That was about $15 per tonne cheaper than an Algerian purchase in early January. Farm office FranceAgriMer estimated in a report that 85 percent of French soft wheat crops were in good/excellent condition by Feb. 11 compared to 84 pct a year earlier. Grains prices at 0401 GMT Contract Last Change Pct chg Two-day chg MA 30 RSI CBOT wheat 503.75 -0.50 -0.10% -0.64% 517.48 29 CBOT corn 375.75 1.00 +0.27% +0.27% 377.93 44 CBOT soy 910.00 2.50 +0.28% +0.72% 913.65 47 CBOT rice 10.07 -$0.02 -0.20% -1.13% $10.55 14 WTI crude 55.75 $0.16 +0.29% +2.46% $52.97 Currencies Euro/dlr $1.130 -$0.001 -0.11% +0.02% USD/AUD 0.7109 -0.002 -0.29% -0.42% Most active contracts Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight RSI 14, exponential (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Joseph Radford)

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