GRAINS-Soybeans firm ahead of U.S. crop report; corn eases SI | Malaysian Palm Oil Council Russia

GRAINS-Soybeans firm ahead of U.S. crop report; corn eases

SINGAPORE, June 30 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures edged higher on Wednesday, as traders adjusted positions ahead of a U.S. government report on stock and acreage, while corn prices eased.

Wheat futures ticked higher although expectations of strong output in Russia, the world's biggest exporter, capped gains.

FUNDAMENTALS
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 was up 0.2% at $13.15-1/4 a bushel by 0012 GMT.

Wheat Wv1 added 0.1% to $6.46-3/4 a bushel and corn Cv1 lost 0.4% to $5.46-1/2 a bushel.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Wednesday is expected to increase its estimate for corn plantings by about 3% from March, according to a Reuters poll of analysts. Soybean plantings are seen up 1.5% from March.
Still, fears remain about the risk from hot and dry weather when grain stocks are slim.

Analysts expect the USDA on Wednesday to report that corn and soybean inventories on June 1 were down 17% and 43%, respectively, from a year earlier.

The USDA, in a weekly report on Monday, rated 64% of the U.S. corn crop in good-to-excellent condition, down 1 percentage point from the prior week and below analysts' expectations. Just 20% of spring wheat was rated good-to-excellent, below a week earlier and analysts' expectations.

Russian agriculture consultancy IKAR said on Tuesday it had raised its 2021 forecast for wheat production to 83.6 million tonnes from 82 million tonnes.
It also said it sees Russia's exports of wheat at 39 million tonnes this year.

Soft wheat exports from the European Union in the 2020/21 season that started last July had reached 25.38 million tonnes by June 27, data published by the European Commission showed on Tuesday.

That was down from 34.64 million tonnes cleared by the same week last season, the data showed.

MARKET NEWS
Global shares edged lower, as new coronavirus outbreaks in Asia vied with strong U.S. and European consumer confidence, and investors speculated about whether the Federal Reserve would accelerate its timetable to end easy monetary policy.