Corn, soy choppy amid demand uptick and strong South American crop
Corn rises on uptick in demand interest
Soy loses ground as South American crop looms
Wheat gains support on questions over Russian export volumes
Updates for US market open, changes hed/byline/dateline, adds bullets, recasts throughout
By Heather Schlitz
CHICAGO, Dec 16 (Reuters) -Chicago corn and soybean futures seesawed on Monday morning as market players weighed an uptick in fund buying interest against the prospect of a bumper South American corn and soy crop, traders said.
Wheat futures rose as a hefty purchase of wheat by Saudi Arabia, as well as the Russian government's move to slow export sales supported the market.
"There's decent demand for corn and beans, and managed money is buying corn and soy," Jim Gerlach, president of A/C Trading, said.
Chicago Board of Trade corn Cv1 was up 3 cents at $4.45 a bushel as of 1732 GMT (11:32 CT). Soybeans Sv1 shed earlier gains and were down 1-3/4 cents to $9.86-1/2 a bushel after the National Oilseed Processors Association reported a lower-than-expected U.S. crush in November.
Thin trade volume ahead of the Christmas holiday has kept corn, soy and wheat futures stuck in a rangebound trade.
Favorable South American crop conditions and a lack of weather threats have pressured corn and soy futures, though both have received support from bargain buying after price falls late last week.
Corn last week touched its highest level since June after the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its estimate for U.S. end-of-season stocks, but disappointing U.S. corn and soybean export sales last week caused price weakness on Thursday and Friday.
Chicago Board of Trade most-active wheat Wv1 was down 1/4 cent at $5.52 a bushel.
Saudi Arabia purchased 804,000 metric tons of wheat on Monday, well above the 595,000 tons it sought in the tender.
Though the U.S. is not expected to supply the wheat, a large purchase takes a hefty chunk of the grain out of the market, traders said.
"The purchase gave the market a bit of a boost," Austin Schroeder, analyst at Brugler Marketing, said.
Reporting by Heather Schlitz in Chicago. Additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg, Peter Hobson in Canberra. Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Mark Potter and Aurora Ellis
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