GRAINS-Soybeans tumble on demand worries, bird flu in China
* Surging U.S. dollar pressures commodities
* Soy to 10-month low, corn hits nine-month low
* Wheat choppy, USDA fails to confirm China rumors
(New throughout, updates prices, adds quotes, changes dateline from previous PARIS/SINGAPORE, byline) CHICAGO, April 4 (Reuters) - U.S. soybean futures fell to a 10-month low and corn set a nine-month low Thursday on worries about a potential slowdown in feed demand from China due to bird flu, and pressure from a surging dollar, traders said. Wheat was roughly unchanged in choppy trade while corn was lower. At the Chicago Board of Trade at 11:30 a.m. CDT (1630 GMT), May soybeans were down 13-1/2 cents at $13.66-3/4 per bushel after dipping to $13.65-1/4, the lowest spot soybean price since June 26. May corn was down 6-1/2 cents at $6.35 a bushel after hitting $6.33-1/2, the lowest spot price since late June. May wheat was up 1/2 cent at $6.97 a bushel. Soybeans and corn were under pressure from worries that bird flu might spread in China, reducing demand for soybeans and soymeal, a key ingredient in chicken feed. China is the world's biggest soybean buyer. The developments weighed on markets, even though the immediate impact on the country's poultry sector was unclear. "It's more psychological, more than having any impact on the actual supply and demand for feed and meal," said Anne Frick, oilseeds analyst with Jefferies Bache in New York. China said in Thursday it was mobilizing resources to combat a new strain of bird flu that has killed five people, as Japan and Hong Kong stepped up vigilance against the virus and Vietnam banned imports of Chinese poultry. Still, some analysts said China was importing less soy than a year ago, and Chinese imports could fall short of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's forecast. Strength in the dollar added pressure. The dollar and euro soared more than 3 percent against the yen in their biggest one-day moves since 2008 after the Bank of Japan unveiled a plan to pump money into the economy that was seen as a radical overhaul of policy. A stronger dollar makes dollar-denominated commodities such as soybeans less competitive on the world market. "The firmer dollar is definitely keeping the road to higher prices fully blocked," said Sterling Smith, futures specialist with Citigroup in Chicago. Corn fell on chart-related selling after the spot May contract fell below Tuesday's low of $6.34. Traders said funds were still liquidating long positions in the wake of last week's USDA report showing larger-than-expected U.S. grain stockpiles.
CHINA RUMOR NOT CONFIRMED Wheat was choppy, pressured after the USDA failed to confirm any major Chinese purchases of U.S. soft red winter wheat, as had been rumored. CBOT wheat posted its biggest single-day rise in six months on Wednesday on speculation China had bought 10 to 14 cargoes of the grain. "For wheat, the big thing is they expected to see China buy 500,000 tonnes of wheat, and we did not see any confirmation," said Steve Georgy, broker-manager for Allendale Inc in McHenry, Illinois. Concern about weather conditions in a few areas underpinned the market. Wheat crops in parts of Europe were being threatened the world's top producers, notably France. Analyst UkrAgroConsult cut Ukraine's 2013 grain crop forecast by 1.5 percent to 52.4 million tonnes on Thursday due to a significant delay in spring grain sowing caused by snowfall across central, northern and western regions. "In view of the continuing low temperatures in key wheat growing areas in Europe and the U.S., fears of harvest shortfalls are growing," Commerzbank analysts said in a note. But India is considering lowering the floor price for wheat sales to private traders for exports from state warehouses, government sources said. That would kick-start shipments by this route as storage space for the world's second biggest producer is squeezed.
Prices at 10:59 a.m. CDT (1559 GMT)
LAST NET PCT YTD CHG CHG CHG CBOT corn 637.75 -3.75 -0.6% -8.7% CBOT soy 1372.50 -7.25 -0.6% -3.3% CBOT meal 396.40 -1.60 -0.4% -5.8% CBOT soyoil 48.63 -0.52 -1.1% -1.1% CBOT wheat 697.25 0.75 0.1% -10.4% CBOT rice 1564.50 -0.50 0.0% 5.3% EU wheat 243.25 2.75 1.1% -2.8%
(Additional reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide and Valerie Parent in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Joseph Radford, Alison Birrane and Jeffrey Benkoe)