SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat futures lost ground on Wednesday, with the market taking a breather after four sessions of gains driven by short-covering and improved demand for US cargoes.
Soybeans slid for a third consecutive session as forecasts of rains in Argentina's key producing regions weighed on the market, while corn was steady after climbing to a five-month high on Tuesday.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade had fallen 0.4 percent to $4.16 a bushel by 0335 GMT, having closed marginally higher on Tuesday.
Soybeans gave up 0.1 percent to $10.26-3/4 a bushel, having closed down 0.3 percent in the previous session. Corn was flat at $3.61 a bushel, after climbing to its highest since mid-July on Tuesday at $3.64-3/4 a bushel.
"Export business for US wheat is improving and there are some issues with dryness in the US Plains which have been supportive for prices," said Kaname Gokon at brokerage Okato Shoji in Tokyo.
"Looking at other exporting nations like Russia and Australia, there is big production expected."
The wheat market had been supported by Egypt buying some US cargoes.
But early forecasts have projected another big Russian wheat harvest next year, while a first official reading of soft wheat sowings in France on Tuesday estimated that the area would equal an 80-year high of 5.2 million hectares harvested this year.
Forecasts of rains in dry areas of Argentina's crop-belt are taking out some of the weather premium that was being built into the market.
There could be support for soybeans with expectations of strong domestic demand in the United States.
US soybean processors likely boosted their November crushing pace by 4.1 percent from a year earlier, with a record harvest providing ample fuel for the plants, traders and analysts said.
The National Oilseed Processors Association, the largest US trade group for the industry, is expected to report that its members crushed 162.568 million bushels of soybeans in November, based on the average of estimates given by six analysts.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT wheat and corn futures contracts on Tuesday. The funds were net sellers of soybeans, soyoil and soymeal.
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