(Reuters) – Chicago soybeans were little changed on Monday, holding on to last week’s biggest gain in more than five months on expectations the U.S. government will reduce its supply estimates in a key report due later in the day.
Wheat fell as weather models forecast moisture across key U.S. growing regions which have seen crops suffer due to dryness in January.
Chicago Board Of Trade March soybeans were almost flat at $13.31 a bushel by 0321 GMT, trading near last week’s highest since Dec. 23.
March wheat slipped 0.7 percent at $5.73-3/4 a bushel, falling for a third consecutive day and March corn lost 0.5 percent to $4.42 a bushel.
“Robust demand for U.S. commodities over the past six weeks will result in slight downward revision in the U.S. ending stock estimates,” said Luke Mathews, commodities strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
“There is weakness in grains but it is not significant as the market is getting ready for the USDA report tonight.” Traders are positioning ahead of the monthly supply-demand report to be issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture at 1700 GMT.
Most analysts surveyed by Reuters expected the USDA to lower its forecast of U.S. 2013/14 soybean ending stocks, reflecting strong export demand.
There is additional support for soybeans stemming from hot and dry weather in Brazil’s center-south region which has severely hurt the country’s soy crop.
Rains remain distant and are unlikely to undo all the damage their absence has caused to the crop, which until now had withstood the drought.
The wheat market came under pressure after snow showers hit Kansas on Sunday, providing some relief for crops, analysts said. “There are some snow showers around Kansas, which will help the crop conditions,” said a Sydney-based analyst.
Wheat had drawn support from declining crop rating conditions in Kansas, the top U.S. producer of the crop. Analysts said dryness was a bigger worry than cold temperatures, even after storms this week brought beneficial snowfall to much of the region.
Private exporters sold 141,200 tonnes of U.S. corn to unknown destinations for delivery in the 2013/14 marketing year, which started on Sept. 1, the USDA said on Friday.
Large speculators trimmed their net short position in CBOT corn in the week to Feb. 4, regulatory data released on Friday showed.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly commitments of traders report also showed that noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, trimmed their net short position in CBOT wheat and raised their net long position in soybeans.
