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Chicago wheat rises on doubts about Russian wheat exports

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Corn firm ahead of U.S. planting report

(Updates prices, adds quotes, changes bullets, changes headline, changes byline, changes dateline, previous PARIS/SINGAPORE)

MEXICO CITY, March 29 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat futures rose to a more than four-week high on Wednesday after grain trader Cargill said it would stop handling Russian grain from its export terminal in the world's largest wheat exporter.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 1.25% to $7.08-1/4 as of 1017 CDT (1517 GMT) after hitting $7.24 in earlier trade, a price not seen since February 27.

Corn added 0.46% to $6.50-1/4 a bushel and soybeans were up 0.53% at $14.75-1/2 a bushel.

Wheat, which had been trading in negative territory in early overnight trade, rose after Russia's agriculture ministry said Cargill had told the ministry that it will stop exporting Russian grain from July 1. Cargill later said it will stop handling Russian grain from its export terminal but its shipping unit will continue to carry grain from Russian ports.

Global grain trader Viterra is also planning to stop grain trading in Russia, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

"I think Russia is making a clear move now to take on more control of their assets and their physical commodities in expectation of worsening trade conditions in the next six to 12 months," said Mike Zuzolo, president of Global Commodity Analytics.

"With this new news, I see that it's just increasing the likelihood that it's going to be very difficult for us (the U.S.) to pick up more demand," he added.

Russian exports could also be hampered if Moscow was to recommend a temporary halt in wheat and sunflower exports, as reported last week by Russian business newspaper Vedomosti.

Sources later told Reuters that Russia had no plans to halt wheat exports but wanted exporters to ensure prices paid to farmers were high enough to cover average production costs.

Corn rose slightly in positioning ahead of Friday's annual U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) planting intentions report.

Soybeans were virtually unchanged after prices hit a one-week high in the previous session on concerns over lower production in drought-hit Argentina. (Reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Mexico City and Naveen Thukral; editing by Uttaresh Venkateshwaran, Sharon Singleton and Jonathan Oatis)