Beans took a break from its 4 day rally giving up 6 cents in the overnight. Wheat was also posting modest losses going into the break while corn was fractionally lower.
Soybeans eased on Thursday as prices consolidated from a six-month high a day earlier that was driven by the threat of rain damage to crops in major exporter Argentina. But with drier weather forecast in Argentina this week and neighboring Brazil already harvesting what is expected to be a record crop, investors were reassessing the impact on international supply.
Consultancy, Strategie Grains lowered its forecast for the 2017 soft wheat harvest in the European Union by 1.2 million tonnes to 143.8 million as it factored in expected damage to crops in the eastern EU due to severe cold weather this month. The reduced forecast would be 6 percent above estimated production of 135.9 million tonnes last year, when output was curbed by a very poor harvest in top EU wheat grower France, Strategie Grains said in a monthly report.
The International Grains Council raised its forecast for the 2016/17 world corn crop on Thursday by 3 million tonnes to a record 1.045 billion tonnes, mainly reflecting an improved outlook for China. The IGC raised its outlook for world wheat production in 2016/17 by 3 million tonnes to 752 million tonnes.
South Korea's state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. has purchased 140,000 tonnes of soybeans to be sourced from the United States in an international tender which closed on Thursday.
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