Chicago wheat futures lost ground on Thursday, with forecasts of rains in drought-hit U.S. and Canadian producing areas weighing on the market.

Corn dipped after Wednesday’s strong gains, while soybeans edged higher.

“The weather outlook seems to be evolving in crops regions (on) either side of the central Canada-U.S. border,” said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

“Weather models are increasingly moving rain forecast through next week to the Northeast. And the shift is consistent enough for weather forecasters to take it seriously.”

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) lost 0.3% to $6.80 a bushel by 0257 GMT, having closed down 0.4% on Wednesday.

Soybeans were up 0.3% at $15.67 a bushel and corn unmoved at $6.90-3/4 a bushel.

Farm office FranceAgriMer on Wednesday raised its monthly forecast for French soft wheat stocks at the end of the current 2020/21 season to 2.7 million tonnes from 2.6 million projected last month.

The market’s attention is turning to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly world supply-and-demand outlook on Thursday.

Analysts on average expect the agency to cut its projections for U.S. corn stocks, against a backdrop of brisk Chinese demand and Brazil’s drought-affected corn crop.

India has stepped up corn exports as a rally in global prices to their highest since 2013 has made shipments from the South Asian country competitive, easing concerns about rising food inflation in Southeast Asia.

Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT soybean, soyoil, wheat and soymeal futures contracts and net buyers of corn on Wednesday , traders said.
Source:Reuters (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; editing by Uttaresh.V)