Wheat eases after 2-day rise, soy slips on India vegoil import tax

PARIS/SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat eased on Monday as a two-day technical bounce petered out in the face of brimming global supplies, while soybeans turned lower as India's hike in import duties for vegetable oils dampened oilseed markets.

But soybeans remained underpinned by concern over dry weather in parts of top soymeal exporter Argentina.

Corn inched down but held onto most of its strong gains from Friday as some investors saw a bottom in the market after a one-year low last week and with funds holding large short positions.

The Chicago Board of Trade most-active wheat contract slipped 0.9 percent to $4.23-1/4 a bushel by 1303 GMT, after rising 1.7 percent in the last two sessions.

Ample world supplies, padded by a record harvest in Russia, has heightened export competition and left US and western European origins struggling against cheaper Black Sea supplies.

"Wheat prices are under pressure, US export sales came in lower and European exports are also struggling while we have plenty of world supplies," said Phin Ziebell, an agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank.

Exports of European Union soft wheat in the 2017/18 season that started on July 1 are running 23 percent below the year-earlier level, while weekly sales of US wheat fell 37 percent in the latest reported period from the prior week.

A tender issued by Iraq, which is seeking 50,000 tonnes of wheat from the United States, Australia or Canada, could bring fresh US sales as there will not be competition from Russia and Ukraine.

Russian wheat exports are expected to ease in November compared with last month but should still be well above the year-earlier volume, consultancy SovEcon said in a report on Monday.

CBOT soybeans were down 0.4 percent at $9.86-3/4 a bushel, led lower by a more than 1 percent drop for soyoil, while corn ticked down 0.2 percent to $3.42-1/4 a bushel. Soybeans and corn each added almost 2 percent on Friday.

Palm oil futures in Malaysia slid 3 percent after India raised its import duties on edible oils to their highest in more than a decade.

But soybeans were still finding support in dry conditions in northern Argentina.

"Drier than average conditions to dominate Argentina's Pampas through at least end of month; early corn and soybean area and yield could start to be negatively affected," Thomson Reuters Agriculture Research analysts said in a note.