FUNDAMENTALS
* The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of
Trade (CBOT) fell 0.5% to $5.83-1/2 a bushel, as of 0012
GMT and soybeans were unchanged at $13.90 a bushel.
* K.C. hard red winter wheat futures rose 0.6% to
$8.82 a bushel, after climbing 4.2% on Friday.
* The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its monthly
supply-demand report said wheat harvest in the Plains would be
the smallest since 1957 as farmers across Kansas, Oklahoma and
Texas were forced to abandon crops due to dry conditions.
* Global wheat importers and exporters are keeping a close
watch on talks to extend a Black Sea grain pact that allows
Ukraine to ship grains despite war with Russia.
* Parties to the Black Sea grain pact are nearing a deal to
extend it after talks between Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish and
United Nations officials, Turkey's Defence Minister Hulusi Akar
said.
* Russia has threatened to quit the agreement on May 18 over
obstacles to its grain and fertilizer exports and the four
parties discussed U.N. proposals to extend the deal on Thursday.
* U.S. corn and soybean supplies were expected to rise
sharply in the coming year due to forecasts for a record harvest
for both crops, the USDA said on Friday.
* Ending stocks of corn for the 2023/24 marketing year were
pegged at 2.222 billion bushels, up from 1.417 billion in
2022/23. Soybean end stocks were forecast to grow to 335 million
bushels from 215 million with wheat stocks seen falling to 556
million bushels, their lowest since 2008.
* However, corn and soybean production forecasts will be
highly dependent on U.S. Midwest weather over the next several
months, which will be a key market concern as farmers finish
planting and crops.
* China is significantly increasing the rate of inspections
on imported soybean cargoes, three soybean traders told Reuters
on Friday, lengthening already slow and costly clearing times in
the world's top buyer of beans.
* Large speculators trimmed their net short position in CBOT
corn futures in the week to May 9, 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 cut their net long position in
soybeans.
MARKET NEWS
* The dollar rose on Friday but a gauge of global stocks
retreated on a report that showed U.S. consumer sentiment
slumped to a six-month low in May, reinforcing bearish investor
sentiment over talks to raise the U.S. government's debt
ceiling. DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
1000 EU Reserve Assets Total April
Euro group finance ministers meet in Brussels
(Reporting by Naveen Thukral)
