PARIS/SINGAPORE: Chicago soybean futures edged lower on Thursday, consolidating after an export-fuelled rally as investors turned their attention to widely followed US grain stocks data.
Corn was similarly subdued as grain markets also awaited US weekly export data later on Thursday and a clearer picture on the ongoing Midwest corn and soybean harvest.
Wheat eased as it faced additional pressure from improving conditions for the sowing season in top exporter Russia after recent rainfall.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade had ticked down a quarter of a cent to $8.49-3/4 a bushel by 1148 GMT.
CBOT wheat was down 0.8 percent at $5.13-1/4 a bushel and corn eased 0.3 percent to $3.61-3/4 a bushel.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will publish on Friday quarterly estimates of US grain stocks, after releasing weekly export sales figures at 1230 GMT on Thursday.
"Grain Market Traders are looking ahead to tomorrow's USDA stocks report, month-end book squaring and the possibility of new money entering into the markets next week," US brokerage Allendale said in a note.
"Weather forecasts are creating concerns about harvest delays," it added, referring to rain risks in the Midwest.
Soybeans have been recovering from a near-10 year low struck last week that was linked to worries over a hardening trade dispute between Washington and Beijing that has curbed US shipments to China just ahead of what is expected to be a record US harvest.
However, low prices have lured other buyers and the USDA on Wednesday announced the largest same-day sale of US soybeans to Mexico since at least 1999, encouraging Chicago futures to recover.
Analysts are still cautious about US soybean prospects, given the trade row that has shifted Chinese demand more towards South America.
"Outside China, there is limited demand and we expect Brazil and Argentina to ramp up production in the coming season," said Phin Ziebell, an agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank.
In wheat, traders reported that Iraq purchased 100,000 tonnes of wheat to be sourced from the United States and Australia in a tender.
However, a modest export pace for US and western European wheat so far in 2018/19 was keeping a lid on prices, despite expectations that Russia's export surplus will run low later in the season.
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