SINGAPORE, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat futures gained more ground on Monday with strong global demand supporting the market, although ample supplies from the Black Sea region are likely to limit the upside potential in prices.
Soybeans rose, recouping some of previous session's losses on harvest downgrades in the United States.
FUNDAMENTALS
* The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.4% at $5.82-1/4 a bushel, as of 0015 GMT. Soybeans added 0.6% to $12.88 a bushel and corn climbed 0.5% to $4.95-3/4 a bushel.
* Wheat prices are being underpinned by the strongest weekly export sales in more than a year in the United States and another rare sale of soft red winter wheat to China.
* Exports of near-record crop from Russia, the world's No. 1 supplier, are likely to curb gains in prices.
* For soybeans and corn, harvest downgrades in a monthly U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report last week lifted prices.
* China imported 7.15 million metric tons of soybeans in September, customs data showed on Friday, falling 7.3% from a year ago after high stocks and a spike in global prices curbed recent purchases.
* In news, a severe drought is disrupting barge traffic on the Tapajos river in the Amazon rainforest, shipping agencies told clients this week as Brazil enters the final months of 2023's corn export season.
* Large speculators trimmed their net short position in CBOT corn futures in the week ended Oct. 10, regulatory data released on Friday showed.
* The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly commitments of traders report also showed that non-commercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, increased their net short position in CBOT wheat and trimmed their net short position in soybeans.
MARKET NEWS
* Oil, U.S. Treasuries and gold prices rose on Friday, with crude soaring nearly 6%, on safe-haven buying driven by the escalating Middle East conflict as Israel urged civilians to leave the northern Gaza Strip.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0900 EU Total Trade Balance SA Aug 1000 EU Reserve Assets Total Sept (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
