By Kirk Maltais

-- Soybeans for January delivery rose 0.5% to $12.92 1/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Monday in response to an outlook of dry conditions in South American growing areas.

-- Wheat for March delivery rose 0.4% to $7.77 3/4 a bushel.

-- Corn for March delivery fell 0.4% to $5.91 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Eyes on the South: Soybean futures are higher Monday, starting the shortened trading week up as traders watch for rainfall in South America, or lack thereof.

"Planting and initial crop development is going very well in Brazil but it has turned dry in southern Brazil and Argentina," said Jack Scoville of Price Futures Group. "It is a La Nina year and that implies drier-than-normal weather in southern Brazil and Argentina."

Isolated showers are expected in southern Brazil and Argentina this week, with temperatures near to above normal, said DTN.

Profit-Taking: Corn futures fell in trading Monday amid a shortened holiday week and a sizable jump seen in managed money firms holding long positions in corn. Corn fell amid an uptick of nearly 13,000 long contracts reported by the CFTC in Friday's Commitments of Traders report.

As a result, managed money funds are now holding a large net long position of nearly 346,000 contracts.

This sizable position has created an opportunity for grains traders to cash in, said Doug Bergman of RCM Alternatives. "With South American weather still concerning and seasonals friendly into early 2022, look for pullbacks to be supported," said Mr. Bergman. "One red flag is the size of the managed fund long."

INSIGHTS

Riding High: Inspections of U.S. corn are up from the previous week, and are up from the same time last year, the USDA reported Monday.

In its latest weekly grain export inspections report, the USDA said for the week ended Dec. 16 corn inspections totaled 1 million metric tons. This is up from 917,100 tons reported last week, and up from 770,122 tons reported at this time last year.

Meanwhile, inspections for both wheat and soybeans are lower than the previous week. Soybean inspections totaled 1.68 million tons and wheat inspections totaled 211,880 tons.

Ready to Rumble: Trading volumes have been light ahead of the Christmas holiday.

However, traders may be hungry for grains after the holiday amid the weather outlook in South America, said AgResource.

"Traders will embrace a bigger weather bull market following Christmas, as they will not have to worry about a pattern change over the three-day holiday weekend," said the firm. "The risks are strongly tilted to the upside on both a supply and demand perspective."

AHEAD

-- General Mills Inc. is scheduled to release its fiscal second-quarter earnings before the stock market opens Tuesday.

-- The EIA is due to release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. EST Wednesday.

-- The USDA is scheduled to release its monthly Cold Storage report at 3 p.m. EST Wednesday.

-- The Chicago Board of Trade is scheduled to close trading early on Thursday in observance of Christmas, reopening on Monday.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-20-21 1545ET