Market waits for more details on harvest progress, exports

PARIS/SYDNEY: Chicago corn and soybean futures were little changed on Wednesday as traders awaited further clues about the outcome of the US harvest and the impact on exports of a trade dispute between the United States and China.

Wheat eased as the market remained under pressure from lagging US exports, which have tempered expectations of a revival later in the season when Russian supplies run low.

The most active corn futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade were down 0.3 percent at $3.63-1/2 a bushel by the end of the overnight trading session. CBOT soybean futures edged down a quarter of a cent to $8.46-3/4, consolidating above a one-month low struck this week.

Investors were assessing weather forecasts after rain hampered harvesting in the Midwest in recent weeks, and starting to look ahead to monthly supply-and-demand forecasts from the US Department of Agriculture next week.

"Grain Markets are looking forward to the next round of USDA data," brokerage Allendale said in a note. "The last trading day of the month could bring position-evening as traders look forward."

The weather outlook has improved for field work although more showers were expected.

"Drier trends aid late harvest in the Midwest," the Commodity Weather Group said, adding that the eastern part of the region could experience more rain delays.

The US soybean market was also awaiting more indications about a trade spat with China that has crippled US shipments to the world's biggest soybean importer.

Soren Schroder, CEO of international agribusiness group Bunge, said on Wednesday that China may not need to revert to buying US soybeans before the next South American crop is available.

CBOT wheat futures were down 1.0 percent at $4.95 a bushel, falling for a second day to approach last week's three-month low.

Optimism generated by a rare sale of US wheat to Egypt on Friday has faded amid tepid overall export shipments and in the absence of an immediate supply squeeze in top exporter Russia.

Russia's agriculture minister raised the country's 2018/19 wheat export estimate at a meeting last Friday with traders, who interpreted it as a sign that risks of export curbs were easing.

A drier weather outlook in the US Plains was also easing concern over sowing delays, while in western Europe the return of rain was reducing a drought threat, particularly in France.