UPDATE 1-GRAINS-Soybeans weaker after 2-day rise, wheat dips on crop outlook
* Wheat falls below corn on improved crop forecasts
* Soy eases after rally, LatAm export delays still support
* Trade hesitant ahead of Friday's USDA forecasts
(Adds European trade, comment, updates prices) HAMBURG/SINGAPORE, March 6 (Reuters) - Chicago soybeans were slightly weaker on Wednesday in a pullback following two sessions of gains based on strong demand for tight U.S. supplies, while improved harvest forecasts kept wheat below corn prices. Wheat fell on expectations of higher production in the United States after recent snowstorms provided crops with welcome moisture and on forecasts of a bigger harvest than expected in Australia, analysts said. Grains and soybeans were also weaker ahead of a key supply and demand report on Friday from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). "Markets are slowing ahead of Friday's USDA world agricultural supply and demand report," said Jaime Miralles of Intl FCStone Europe. "New crop fundamentals continue to weigh on wheat after the Australian agency ABARES released its new crop view, forecasting a strong rebound in global wheat output as well as corn." ABARES on Tuesday forecast Australian 2013/14 wheat production will rise 13 percent from the previous year, boosted by increased planting and higher yields resulting from better growing conditions. Chicago Board of Trade May soybeans, which approached four-month highs on Tuesday, fell 0.1 percent to $14.65 a bushel by 1135 GMT. Chicago May wheat fell 0.5 percent to $7.02-1/4 a bushel, under May corn at $7.07-1/2 a bushel. Soybeans from new crops in Brazil and Argentina are urgently needed to replenish tight global supplies after a poor U.S. harvest last year. But port delays have slowed the flow of beans leaving those countries, forcing importers to look to the United States despite higher prices. "There is a pull-back in soybeans, but we are bullish on nearby months because of tight U.S. supply and shipping delays in Brazil, which have gone up to almost two months," said Joyce Liu, an investment analyst at Phillip Futures.
LARGE GLOBAL WHEAT CROP The wheat market has been weighed down by the outlook for a large global crop this year. Global wheat output could climb to record highs in the year to June 2014 on improved crop prospects for some major producers hit by severe droughts last year, USDA official said on Wednesday. In the U.S. Plains, warmer temperatures this week will melt much of the snow cover from big blizzards in late February, adding crop-friendly moisture to the drought-stricken hard red winter wheat region, a meteorologist for World Weather Inc said. "For the first time in 10 months, wheat in the U.S. costs less than corn again," Commerzbank said in a note. "The brightening of global supply prospects for wheat is to blame for this unusual constellation, the USDA having reported a slight improvement in plant quality in Kansas and Oklahoma." The bank added, "The situation looks set to improve in Australia too." South American soybean and corn production forecasts will be in focus when the USDA releases its monthly supply/demand report on Friday. America's corn supply is slowly inching upward due to demand rationing tied to lofty prices, but the USDA on Friday is still expected to peg stocks at the end of summer at the lowest in 17 years.
* Prices at 1135 GMT
Product Last Change Pct Move End 2012 Ytd PctParis wheat 244.25 -2.00 -0.81 202.50 20.62Paris maize 223.50 0.25 +0.11 196.75 13.60 Paris rape 471.25 -0.75 -0.16 438.25 7.53 CBOT wheat 695.25 -1.00 -0.14 652.75 6.51 CBOT corn 728.50 -3.50 -0.48 646.60 12.67 CBOT soy 1491.00 -5.50 -0.37 1198.50 24.41 Crude oil 90.69 -0.13 -0.14 98.83 -8.24 Euro/dlr 1.3035 * Paris futures prices in Euros per tonne and CBOT in cents per bushel.
(editing by Jane Baird)