Wheat eases off two-month highs on large Russian exports

Chicago wheat fell on Wednesday, receding from two-month highs hit on Monday, as large exports of Russian wheat depressed sentiment.

Corn and soybeans were little changed as dealers assessed prospects for U.S. planting weather this week.

Chicago Board of Trade most-active wheat ZW1! fell 0.4% to $5.99-3/4 a bushel at 0908 GMT, hovering below the $6 level after hitting a 2-month high of $6.03-1/2 on Tuesday.

Corn ZC1! was unchanged at $4.52-1/2 a bushel and soybeans ZS1! fell 0.04% to $11.81-1/2 a bushel.

Traders said wheat was seeing profit-taking after recent highs, which were driven by a decline in U.S. crop ratings and dryness stressing Russian crops.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly crop progress report showed 50% of U.S. winter wheat crop in good-to-excellent condition, down from 55% a week earlier.

Dryness in south Russia and cold in west Europe was limiting falls, but attention was returning to export competition from Russia.

Russia's Sovecon consultancy on Monday forecast Russia will export 4.6 million metric tons of wheat in April, only slightly down from 4.8 million tons in March and up from January and February shipments.

"Russian prices remain the cheapest in export markets while Russia is also forecast to export well over 1 million tons of wheat a week in April," one German trader said.

"This is a high level for this time of the season and shows Russia still has big supplies of wheat to sell despite its big exports so far this year."

Russian wheat export prices fell last week amid active shipments and an export quota expansion, although dry weather began to affect harvest forecasts.

The U.S. corn planting pace is a little better than expected, but heavy rains in the central U.S. could hinder progress later this week, analysts said.