GRAINS-Soy futures rise on U.S. export demand; wheat retreats
By Tom Polansek
CHICAGO, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures rose on steady export demand and uncertainty over the U.S. crop on Tuesday, while profit-taking dragged down wheat futures after a rally, traders said.
Corn futures were near unchanged.
Gains in soybeans came after the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that exporters sold 198,000 tonnes of U.S. soy to China, the world's top importer of the oilseed, and 132,000 tonnes to unknown buyers. The deals were the latest in a string of recent sales.
"You had another round of good export sales here on soybeans," said Matt Wiegand, commodity broker for FuturesOne. "You're extending the streak there and adding support."
Most-active soybean futures were up 7 cents at $13.75-1/4 a bushel by 10:28 a.m. CDT (1528 GMT). The market felt spillover support from a rally in CBOT soymeal, traders said.
Corn was up 1/2 cent at $5.69-1/4 a bushel.
CBOT wheat tumbled 23-1/2 cents to $7.37 a bushel as it pulled away from an 8-1/2-year peak of $7.74-3/4 reached on Friday.
Wheat markets had surged after the USDA on Thursday made steep cuts to its monthly world crop projections, fuelling global supply concerns.
"Wheat's been on a tremendous rally," Wiegand said. "Having a correction here makes sense."
Traders were monitoring U.S. reports from the annual Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour. The tour said on Monday that corn yield prospects and soybean pod counts were above three-year averages for Ohio and below averages for South Dakota.
The USDA, in a weekly report on Monday, lowered its condition ratings for the U.S. soybean and corn crops. Analysts were expecting no changes.
The reduced ratings tempered some analysts' expectations for a boost to yields.
"The market is considering downside but not any upside to yields," said Michael Magdovitz, commodity analyst with Rabobank. (Reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri, Anil D'Silva and Jonathan Oatis)
