By Kirk Maltais

--Wheat for March delivery fell 1.7% to $7.58 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Monday, falling for five out of the past six trading sessions in on expectations of warmer weather coming to winter wheat growing areas.

--Corn for March delivery fell 0.7% to $5.89 1/4 a bushel.

--Soybeans for March delivery rose 1.2% to $13.55 1/2 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Locked In: CBOT wheat futures led the agricultural complex lower Monday. Cold weather currently seen in the U.S. expected to eventually give way to warmer conditions. "Cold is also expected in the U.S. Midwest and eastern states of the U.S. late this week and into the weekend, but it will be short lived with the second week of the forecast trending warmer in much of the United States," said Terry Reilly of Futures International.

Slashed Outlook: Unlike corn or wheat futures trading on the CBOT, soybean futures turned higher in trading Monday. StoneX's Brazilian arm cut 11 million metric tons from its soybean production estimate due to adverse weather, pulling the total to 134 million tons, down from last year's 135.5 million crop, and down from last month's 145.1 million ton estimate for the current year. "Production was cut by as much as one-fourth in some southern regions, while northern regions failed to see a bump in yields as expected," said Arlan Suderman of StoneX. Rainfall in northern Brazil is expected to continue this week, according to DTN, adding that the additional rain "could delay maturation and early harvest of soybeans."

INSIGHTS

Back to the Grind: After selling ahead of the holidays, fund traders are now returning their attention to grain futures - thanks in large part to the weather woes in South America. Strength in soybean futures came mostly from the South American weather outlook, and the selling seen before the holidays now makes futures prices attractive for funds to jump back in over the coming days, said Tomm Pfitzenmaier of Summit Commodity Brokerage.

Holiday Slowdown: Inspections of U.S. grains fell across the board through the Christmas holiday, the government reported Monday. In its latest weekly grain export inspections report, the USDA said for the week ended December 30, corn inspections totaled 596,092 metric tons, down from 954,488 tons reported last week, and from 1.09 million tons reported at this time last year. Soybean inspections totaled 1.19 million tons for the week, down from 1.73 million tons previously, and wheat inspections totaled 141,816 tons - down from 291,207 tons the prior week. Central and South American countries were the main destinations for U.S. corn reported by the USDA. China was also a major destination for U.S. grains across the board, particularly soybeans - with 748,871 tons inspected for shipment there.

AHEAD:

--The EIA will release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

--The USDA will release its weekly export sales report at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday.

--The CFTC will release its weekly commitment of traders report at 3:30 p.m. ET Friday.

Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-03-22 1518ET