(Reuters) – Chicago corn futures slid for a third consecutive session on Wednesday to their lowest in three weeks, while soybeans eased after a U.S. government report showed further improvement in crop conditions.
Wheat also fell, taking its losses in three days to more than 3 percent, as concerns eased over potential supply disruptions from Ukraine.
Chicago Board Of Trade December corn was trading down 0.6 percent at $3.61-3/4 a bushel by 0245 GMT, after hitting $3.61 a bushel, its lowest since August 12.
November soybeans lost 0.5 percent to $10.27 a bushel, having firmed 0.8 percent on Tuesday, and wheat gave up 0.2 percent to $5.54 a bushel.
U.S. corn was rated 74 percent good-to-excellent, up from 73 percent a week ago and 56 percent at this time of last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Soybean conditions were 72 percent good-to-excellent, up from 70 percent a week ago and 54 percent last year.
“The grain market is in bearish trend after the Labor day break, as the early harvest in the United States is showing good yields,” said Kaname Gokon, general manager of research at brokerage Okato Shoji in Tokyo.
“The United States has a big corn crop to sell, but it is still more expensive than South American corn.”
Commodity brokerage INTL FCStone on Tuesday raised its forecast of U.S. 2014 corn production to 14.595 billion bushels, from 14.455 billion in its previous monthly report.
The firm raised its corn yield estimate to 174.1 bushels per acre, from 172.4 last month.
It raised its forecast of U.S. 2014 soybean production to 4.0 billion bushels, from its August forecast of 3.865 billion. The firm forecast the average soybean yield at 47.6 bushels per acre, up from its August estimate of 46.0 bushels.
The wheat market is being weighed down by growing exports from Ukraine.
Ukraine’s grain exports rose to 5.01 million tonnes in the first two months of the 2014/15 season from about 3.3 million in the same period a year earlier, the agriculture ministry said on Tuesday.
