CHICAGO: US corn futures fell about 1 percent on Monday while wheat was on pace for the third straight session of declines as grain prices were pressured by position squaring ahead of government crop reports due on Friday.
Analysts expect the US Department of Agriculture to show abundant global grain and soy supplies in monthly and quarterly reports that tend to spur increased volatility in futures.
Improved weather conditions - rains in South America and warmer temperatures in the US Plains - further weighed on prices. Soybean futures eased from Friday's three-week high at the Chicago Board of Trade.
"Without a weather problem, we are not going to see big bounces" in prices, said Highground Trading broker Scott Capinegro.
CBOT March corn was 4-1/4 cents lower at $3.47 per bushel at 12:18 p.m. CST (1818 GMT), holding just above its life-of-contract low of $3.46-1/2 from mid-December.
CBOT March wheat was down 3 cents to $4.27-3/4 and CBOT March soybeans off 7 cents to $9.63-3/4.
Wheat prices had been supported by fears that frigid weather might damage crops across key US producing regions, which are already struggling with persistent dry weather.
"It is a bit of a concern but it is too early to talk about crop damage in the US and Russia," said one agricultural commodities analyst in Melbourne. "We will not know the yield potential until March or April."
Temperatures warmed up and rains arrived in parts of southern Plains wheat areas, alleviating some concerns about damage to plants, before bitter-cold conditions return next week, according to the Commodity Weather Group.
Meanwhile, rains fell in about half of Brazil's growing regions and about 30 percent of corn and soy areas in Argentina, the meteorologist said. But the extended forecast for Argentina remains dry, raising risks of reduced yields.
Large speculators trimmed their net short positions in CBOT corn and wheat futures in the week to Jan. 2 and increased their soybean net short, regulatory data released on Friday showed.
USDA on Monday said about 1.2 million tonnes of US soybeans were inspected for export in the latest week as well as 849,226 tonnes of corn and 234,418 tonnes of wheat, all relatively near analysts' expectations.
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