*
Brazil harvest progress slowed by rains in key growing
areas
*
Argentine dry weather conditions likely to continue this
week
(Updates prices; adds quote, additional info)
By Matthew Chye
SINGAPORE, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures
inched lower on Monday, weighed down by estimates of a record
output in top exporter Brazil despite slow harvest progress due
to heavy rains in key producing regions.
Wheat edged higher after an agriculture consultancy cut its
harvest forecast for top exporter Russia, while corn was largely
unchanged.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of
Trade (CBOT) was down 0.1% at $15.31 a bushel, as of 0443
GMT. Wheat gained 0.6% to $7.61-1/4 a bushel, while corn was largely unchanged at $6.77-1/4 a bushel.
A combination of Argentina drought and slow progress in
Brazil harvest lent some support to soybean prices, but these
factors could change soon, according to a note from commodities
research firm Hightower.
The 7-day outlook for rain in Argentina is very dry and
crops could move into a stressful situation, but the forecast
for following week shows plentiful rainfall across the heart of
the growing region, Hightower said.
Advance sales of Brazil's 2022/2023 soybean crop rose
slightly from last month but still trail last year's and
historical levels by a wide margin, according to data from
Safras & Mercado on Friday.
Brazilian farmers have harvested 9.86% of the country's
soybean area so far in the season, with work progressing slowly
due to rains in key producing regions, Patria Agronegocios
consultancy said on Friday.
Agriculture consultancy IKAR cut its forecast for Russia's
2023 wheat harvest to 84 million tonnes from 87 million tonnes,
its head Dmitry Rylko told Reuters.
Ukrainian farms had harvested 53.2 million tonnes of grain
in bunker weight from 97% of the expected area as of Feb. 2, the
agriculture ministry said on Friday.
Egyptian state grains buyer the General Authority for Supply
Commodities (GASC) said on Saturday it had bought 60,000 tonnes
of yellow corn.
World food prices fell in January for a 10th consecutive
month, and are now down some 18% from a record high hit last
March following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations
food agency said on Friday.
Commodity funds were net sellers of Chicago Board of Trade
soyoil, soybean and wheat futures contracts on Friday, and net
buyers of soymeal and corn futures, traders said. Asian shares slid after a run of upbeat economic data from
the United States and globally lessened the risk of recession,
but also suggested interest rates would have to rise further and
stay up for longer. (Reporting by Matthew Chye; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
