Wheat falls on large world supply; corn and soy edge up
Wheat down on weak European prices and large world supplies
Market awaits more results from Pro Farmer crop tour
Updates with closing prices
By Heather Schlitz
CHICAGO, Aug 21 (Reuters) -Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures Wv1 fell on Wednesday as heavy world supplies and cheap Black Sea exports weighed on prices, ahead of a potential Canadian rail stoppage on Thursday.
Chicago soybean Sv1 ticked higher as the U.S. Agriculture Department reported a third day of soybean sales to China in a row. Corn Cv1 futures ended up after a choppy dayas hedge funds unwound short positions and traders monitored the results of a major crop tour.
A stoppage of Canadian freight railway operations would disrupt North America's agricultural supply chain, but a continued stream of cheap Russian wheat exports may blunt any uptick in demand for U.S. grains, Karl Setzer, partner at Consus Ag, said.
"If the strike does happen, I think we might see a bump in demand, but given the price spread between the U.S. and others, it may be limited," Setzer said.
Canada is the world's No. 3 wheat exporter, while the U.S. is No. 4.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 ended up 5-1/2 cents at $9.81-1/2 per bushel. CBOT corn Cv1 ended 1/4 cent higher at $3.98-1/4 per bushel, while CBOT wheat Wv1 settled down 13-1/2 cents at $5.19-3/4 a bushel.
Grain tradersare closely monitoringthe Pro Farmer crop tour in the U.S. Midwest this week.
While results have shown above-average potential for corn and soybeans in several states, feedback has failed to add to already high expectations for the upcoming harvests, analysts said.
Forecasts from Illinois and the western third of Iowa are expected later on Wednesday.
Corn and soybeans have lingered near four-year lows on pressure from an anticipated bumper harvest and beneficial weather in the U.S. Midwest. Hedge funds may be exiting their large short positions as prices seem to be bottoming out, traders said.
"They've already made money being short," said Joe Davis, broker at Futures International. "The larger hedge funds are moving to other markets."
Reporting by Heather Schlitz in Chicago; additional reporting by Mei Mei Chu in Beijing, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral; editing by Sonia Cheema, Jason Neely, Jonathan Oatis and Cynthia Osterman
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