CHICAGO, Nov 30 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat futures fell about 3%
on Monday on prospects that Russia, the world's top supplier of
the food grain, may raise its export quota, analysts said, along
with long liquidation and profit-taking at the end of the month.
Soybean and corn futures dipped as welcome rains fell on
parts of crop areas in Brazil and Argentina,
As of 12:53 p.m. CST (1853 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade
March wheat was down 19-1/2 cents at $5.86-1/2 per bushel.
CBOT January soybeans were down 21-1/4 cents at $11.70-1/2
a bushel and March corn was down 8-3/4 cents at $4.25 a
bushel.
Wheat fell after Russia's agriculture ministry said the
country may increase the size of its grain export quota planned
for Feb. 15 to June 30 to 17.5 million tonnes, from 15 million
tonnes.
"It does make a little bit more (wheat) available to the
world market," said Jack Scoville, vice president for Price
Futures Group in Chicago.
Also, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource
Economics and Sciences (ABARES) raised its estimate of the
country's 2020/21 wheat production to 31.17 million tonnes, up
from 28.91 million previously.
CBOT soybean and corn futures retreated after early
advances, pressured by weekend rains in dry areas of Argentina
and southern Brazil.
"The worry about dry weather in South America, especially
Brazil and Argentina, has been supporting soybeans in the past
week and now we are seeing rain in parts of these countries,"
said Matt Ammermann, StoneX commodity risk manager.
CBOT most-active corn futures touched their highest
level since July 2019 in early moves on Monday before turning
lower. And the benchmark soybean contract turned down
after failing for a fourth straight session to match its Nov. 23
high of $12 a bushel.
"When you are in a weather market and all of a sudden the
weather changes, you are going to get a reaction," Scoville
said. "Plus, there is some liquidation just because it is the
end of the month, and some of the funds are booking some
profits."
(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen in Chicago
Additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Naveen
Thukral in Singapore
Editing by Matthew Lewis)