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Soybeans, corn, wheat fall on China protest concerns

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Competition from Black Sea suppliers weakens wheat

HAMBURG, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat, corn and soybeans fell on Monday, as commodity and equity markets dropped on concern about the impact of rare protests in China against its strict anti-COVID policy.

Wheat hit its lowest level in around three months, with cheap supplies from Russia and elsewhere in the Black Sea adding competition to U.S. wheat.

Chicago Board of Trade most-active wheat fell 0.9% to $7.89-1/2 a bushel at 1124 GMT, after earlier hitting $7.82, its lowest since Aug. 22.

Soybeans fell 0.4% to $14.30-3/4 a bushel, corn fell 0.5% to $6.67-3/4 a bushel.

Global markets including crude oil and equities fell on Monday as widespread and rare protests in China against stringent COVID-19 curbs sparked a wave of selling.

“The news from China of more COVID cases and the unexpected protests against the government are weakening wheat, corn and soybeans today,” said Matt Ammermann, StoneX commodity risk manager. “There is concern in commodity markets both about the possible disruption in China from more anti-COVID measures and also the impact of protests.”

“Russian wheat continues to be offered at about the cheapest prices in world export markets which is negative for the export prospects of U.S. wheat. Weather remains positive for export shipping in the Black Sea and we could see large volumes of Russian wheat shipments in December.”

Russian and Ukrainian wheat were bought by Egypt on Thursday.

Argentina on Friday announced a more generous exchange rate for U.S. dollars brought in through soy exports until the end of the year, seeking to boost soy exports and bring much-needed dollars to central bank coffers.

“Soybeans are also being pushed down by news of Argentina’s incentives to encourage soy product exports with favourable exchange rates, while prospects for Brazil’s soybean harvest remain good,” Ammermann said. (Reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg, additional reporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore, editing by Alexander Smith)