SINGAPORE/PARIS: Chicago wheat futures fell for a fifth consecutive session on Wednesday, their worst losing streak since February, after a US government report raised its estimate for world wheat inventories.
Corn edged higher after closing almost unchanged on Tuesday while soybean prices were flat.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 0.2 percent at $4.58-1/2 a bushel by 1040 GMT, corn gained 0.2 percent to $3.60-3/4 a bushel and soybeans were down a marginal 0.08 percent at $8.98 a bushel.
The five days of losses for the wheat contract are its worst run of declines since prices dropped for six days in a row from Feb. 25 to March 4.
The wheat market is under pressure after a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) monthly report on Tuesday raised its forecast of global 2018/19 wheat ending stocks to 275.61 million tonnes, topping the highest in a range of trade expectations.
"The USDA cut their forecast of US exports for season 2018," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. "The wheat that was not exported is largely forecast to end up in inventories."
The agency raised its outlook for how much corn will be left in grain elevators ahead of harvest this year because of falling demand from the export, feed and residual and ethanol sectors.
The USDA also boosted its estimate of domestic wheat supplies. However, it trimmed its outlook for soybean stocks for the third report in a row.
In a weekly crop progress report late on Monday the USDA rated 60 percent of the US winter wheat crop in good-to-excellent condition, up from 56 percent a week earlier in a sign of improving yield prospects. Analysts on average had expected no change in weekly ratings.
"With the USDA report out of the way for the month, attention will turn back to weather forecasts and trade headlines," brokerage Allendale said.
In Europe, farming agency FranceAgriMer raised its forecast for French soft wheat exports outside the European Union this season for the third month in a row, underlining a recent acceleration in shipments from the EU's biggest grain grower.
FranceAgriMer now expects non-EU soft wheat exports in the 2018/19 season at 9.7 million tonnes, up from the 9.5 million forecast last month and 19.5 percent above last season's volume.
A spring snowstorm was forecast to cross parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin from Wednesday, potentially dumping 8-16 inches of snow, the Commodity Weather Group said in a client note. Farmers in those areas are trying to prepare fields for seeding of spring crops including corn.
The CBOT soybean May contract could retest support at $8.97-1/2 a bushel, with a good chance of breaking below this level and falling to the next support at $8.92, Wang Tao, Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals, wrote in a report.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT wheat and soybean futures contracts on Tuesday and net buyers of soyoil, traders said.
Estimates of fund activity in corn ranged widely, from net sales of 12,500 contracts to net purchases of 8,000 lots.
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