By Francesca Fontana

Grain futures finished lower after Thursday's export sales report largely missed traders' expectations.

"It was not a good week for exports," said Craig Turner, a senior broker at Daniels Trading.

Soybean contracts for November delivery fell 2.5% to $8.63 1/2 a bushel, at the Chicago Board of Trade. December corn contracts fell 0.9% and December wheat contracts fell 0.8%.

Soybean prices had been rallying in part off of some anticipation of renewed demand from China, but in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report, "China reaffirmed that they are not going to be buying U.S. soybeans," Mr. Turner said.

Trade negotiations with China have been deteriorating since China first introduced retaliatory tariffs on American crops in July, and the country has been filling its needs for soybeans elsewhere.

The agency reported net export sales of soybeans of 293,600 metric tons for the week ending Oct. 11 and corn export sales for the week were 382,500 metric tons. Both figures were about half of the lowest estimate, said Brock Beadle of MaxYield Cooperative. Meanwhile, the clear weather is allowing farmers to harvest after rain and snow brought field work to a halt in recent weeks, analysts said.

"All of the bullish catalysts are pretty much done," Mr. Turner said.

Write to Francesca Fontana at francesca.fontana@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 18, 2018 15:39 ET (19:39 GMT)

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