SINGAPORE, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean and corn futures rose for a second session on Thursday, although forecasts of rains in parched areas of the U.S. crop belt kept a lid on prices.
Wheat lost more ground.
FUNDAMENTALS
* The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) added 0.4% to $13.96 a bushel, as of 0027 GMT and corn rose 0.3% to $6.13-1/2 a bushel. Wheat lost 0.1% to $7.80 a bushel.
* Forecasts for rain this week in dry western parts of the U.S. Midwest are likely to pressure soybean prices, as the crop finishes filling out through the end of August.
* The wheat market is being weighed down on expectations higher Ukrainian supplies.
* Ukraine expects five ships to arrive at its Chornomorsk Black Sea port on Wednesday for loading with more than 70,000 tonnes of agricultural products, the largest convoy so far under a U.N.-brokered grain export deal.
* The Ukrainian sea ports authority said in a statement that the new cargoes would include wheat, corn and sunseed oil.
* Gains in wheat prices have also been curbed by stronger-than-expected harvests in Russia and India, despite uncertainties over exports from both countries.
* India raised its wheat production estimate on Wednesday, even as other forecasters and traders were scaling down output numbers because of a heatwave.
* The world's second-biggest grains producer harvested 106.84 million tonnes of wheat in 2022, slightly higher than the previous estimate of 106.41 million tonnes, the government said in its latest estimate released by the farm ministry.
* Consultancy Sovecon raised its forecast for Russia's 2022 wheat crop to 94.7 million tonnes from 90.9 million on Tuesday.
* Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT wheat and soyoil futures contracts on Wednesday and new buyers of CBOT soybeans, corn and soymeal, traders said.
MARKET NEWS
* Global equities fell and U.S. Treasury yields rose on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes showed that officials were ready to slow the pace of interest rate hikes in tandem with signals of a slowdown in inflation.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0130 Australia Employment July 0130 Australia Unemployment rate July 0900 EU HICP Final MM, YY July 1230 US Initial Jobless Clm Weekly 1230 US Philly Fed Business Indx Aug 1400 US Existing Home Sales July (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
