GRAINS-Corn sheds 1 pct in profit-taking ahead of USDA report

* Grain markets hesitant before USDA stocks, area estimates

* Corn rallied this week on expected tightening stocks

* Coming up: USDA crop report at 11 a.m. CDT (1600 GMT

(Recasts with open of U.S. pit trading, adds analyst comment; changes byline, dateline, pvs PARIS/SYDNEY) CHICAGO, March 28 (Reuters) - U.S. corn futures shed 1 percent on Thursday, declining from a seven-week high as traders locked in profits ahead of a government crop report that is expected to show acreage in the world's largest producer and exporter as the biggest in 77 years. Wheat futures also dipped while soybeans were nearly flat after hitting the highest level in two weeks in advance of the U.S. Agriculture Department's annual plantings and quarterly stocks report slated for release at 11 a.m. CDT (1600 GMT). Corn for May delivery eased 8 cents to $7.27-1/4 per bushel as of 10:13 a.m. CDT (1513 GMT) at the Chicago Board of Trade. CBOT May wheat fell 7-1/2 cents to $7.29-1/4. "There's a little bit of fear that maybe we did a better job of rationing, that maybe our ending stocks will be over 5 billion bushels instead of under 5 billion," said Don Roose, president of the brokerage U.S. Commodities in West Des Moines, Iowa. "We have adequate wheat supplies in the world and we are getting more moisture here," Roose added. Analysts polled by Reuters expect USDA to peg existing stockpiles of corn at a 15-year low of 5.013 billion bushels and soybeans a nine-year low of 935 million bushels after devastating drought last summer reduced yields at harvest.

But farmers were expected to respond to historically high prices of the commodities by planting the most corn in 77 years this spring and the most soybeans ever. "(The report) is going to be more about the stocks than anything else. There's no reason to believe that we are not going to have large acres," Roose said. CBOT May soybeans eased 1-3/4 cents to $14.52. Soybeans and corn were on pace for narrow quarterly gains while wheat futures were headed for their second straight quarterly decline. Wheat futures jumped to a five-week high this week after bitter-cold weather damaged some of the young crop in the southern U.S. Plains wheat belt. The cold spell has also put any early spring fieldwork on hold in the U.S. Midwest, where most of the corn and soybeans is grown. "The market remains uncertain before the report, torn between tensions until the end of the season and favorable perspectives globally for the coming harvest, provided there are no weather incidents," French grains consultancy Agritel said.

Prices at 10:13 a.m. CDT (1513 GMT)

LAST NET PCT YTD CHG CHG CHG CBOT corn 727.25 -8.00 -1.1% 12.5% CBOT soy 1452.00 -1.75 -0.1% 21.2% CBOT meal 422.80 -0.30 -0.1% 36.7% CBOT soyoil 50.61 -0.21 -0.4% -2.8% CBOT wheat 729.25 -7.50 -1.0% 11.7% CBOT rice 1545.00 12.00 0.8% 5.8% EU wheat 244.50 -2.25 -0.9% 20.7%US crude 96.69 0.11 0.1% -2.2% Dow Jones 14,569 43 0.3% 19.2% Gold 1598.14 -6.65 -0.4% 2.2% Euro/dollar 1.2813 0.0033 0.3% -1.0% Dollar Index 83.0180 -0.2030 -0.2% 3.5% Baltic Freight 910 -12 -1.3% -47.6%

(Additional reporting by Colin Packham in Sydney and Gus Trompez in Paris; Editing by Alison Birrane and Marguerita Choy)