PARIS/SYDNEY: China soybean futures edged up on Thursday to hold above a 2019 low touched the day before, as investors weighed prospects for a U.S.-China trade settlement against bumper South American crops and the impact of swine fever on Chinese feed demand.

Trading was subdued as investors awaited weekly U.S. export data at 1230 GMT and with the Chicago market preparing for a three-day closure from Friday for the Easter holiday. 

The most active soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.2 percent at $8.80-1/2 a bushel by 1129 GMT. They closed down 1 percent on Wednesday after hitting their lowest since Dec. 26 at $8.78-1/2 during the session.

Adding to signs of progress towards a trade deal between Washington and Beijing, the Wall Street Journal reported that the United States and China have tentatively scheduled a fresh round of face-to-face trade talks.

Negotiators are aiming to hold a signing ceremony in late May or early June, it said. 

A tariff battle between the two countries since last year has disrupted massive flows of U.S. soybeans towards China, the world's biggest importer of the oilseed.

However, even in the event of a trade agreement, short-term  Chinese demand for U.S. soy may be curbed by African swine fever which has caused severe losses to pig herds.

The disease is estimated to have cut the world's largest hog herd by 10 percent in the first quarter.

On the supply side, expectations are growing for large harvests in Brazil and Argentina.

"The news suggests the market is both gaining supply from bigger South American crops and losing demand as China's pigs succumb to African swine fever," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

The most active CBOT corn contract was unchanged on the day at $3.58-1/4 a bushel. CBOT wheat was down 0.8 percent at $4.46-1/2 a bushel

Corn was almost unchanged, with weather delays to U.S. planting being set against a good harvest outlook in South America and large U.S. stocks.

"With flooding concerns throughout the Midwest, some are concerned that corn plantings will be delayed," brokerage Allendale said in a note.

"Three-day market weekends can add to the uncertainty of weather forecasts this time of year."

Wheat was hovering near a one-month low struck earlier this week, as a firmer dollar and a broadly favourable harvest outlook in the northern hemisphere weighed on sentiment.

(Reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Colin Packham in Sydney; Editing by

Joseph Radford and Jan Harvey)

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