* Soybeans, corn fall as U.S. harvest gathers pace
* Wheat down for 3rd week in 4 on ample world supply
(Adds details, quotes)
By Naveen Thukral
SINGAPORE, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Chicago soybeans and corn
futures lost ground on Friday with both poised for a decline of
more than three percent this week as harvest of all-time high
U.S. crops pressure prices.
Wheat eased too and was on track to post its third weekly
drop in four amid abundant global supplies.
Chicago Board of Trade most-active soybeans slid 0.2
percent to $9.49 a bushel by 0324 GMT, while corn lost 0.5
percent to $3.28-1/2 a bushel.
Wheat gave up 0.5 percent to $3.97-1/2 a bushel.
"Big harvests are progressing and farmer-selling is coming
out," said one Sydney-based broker. "Corn and soybeans are being
harvested in the United States and we expect agricultural
markets to remain under pressure over the coming weeks."
For the week, soybeans are down 3.2 percent, corn has lost
3.7 percent and wheat has given up 1.5 percent.
Strong demand for soybeans could limit losses.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said that private
exporters sold 110,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans to unknown
destinations on Thursday. That marked the government's first
daily soybean sales announcement in a week.
The USDA reported export sales of U.S. soybeans in the week
to Sept. 8 at more than 1 million tonnes, in line with trade
expectations.
The USDA reported weekly export sales of 2016/17 U.S. corn
at 703,500 tonnes, below a range of trade expectations for
800,000 to 1,100,000 tonnes.
U.S. soy processors crushed 2.6 percent fewer beans in
August than a year ago and the pace fell below market
expectations due to declines at plants in the Southwest, the
National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) said.
NOPA said its members crushed 131.822 million bushels of
soybeans in August, down from 143.715 million during July. In
August 2015, the NOPA crush was 135.304 million bushels.
In the wheat market, Egypt, the world's top buyer, last
month adopted a zero-tolerance policy on ergot, a grain fungus,
in imported wheat, complicating its efforts to source wheat.
State grain buyer GASC cancelled its international wheat tender
on Aug. 31 after receiving just one offer.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT corn and wheat
futures contracts on Thursday and net buyers in soybeans,
traders said. Trade estimates of net selling in corn ranged
from 2,000 to 7,000 contracts, and estimates of net buying in
soybeans ranged from 3,000 to 5,000 contracts.
Grains prices at 0324 GMT
Contract Last Change Pct chg Two-day chg MA 30 RSI
CBOT wheat 397.50 -2.00 -0.50% -1.36% 418.96 66
CBOT corn 328.50 -1.50 -0.45% -0.98% 332.58 60
CBOT soy 949.00 -1.50 -0.16% +0.66% 977.38 29
CBOT rice 9.81 $0.02 +0.20% -0.86% $9.80 65
WTI crude 43.66 -$0.25 -0.57% +0.18% $45.39 40
Currencies
Euro/dlr $1.124 $0.000 -0.02% -0.09%
USD/AUD 0.7519 0.001 +0.07% +0.71%
Most active contracts
Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel.
Rice: USD per hundredweight
RSI 14, exponential
(Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Himani Sarkar)