* Soybeans will win for the 2nd session as Argentina’s dry weather supports prices
* Wheat is easing this week, the Black Sea crop will be under better pressure
* China to raise minimum purchase price in 2021 (quotes in paragraph 3, details of Chinese support prices)
SINGAPORE, March 5 (Reuters) – Chicago soybeans gained more ground on Friday, with the market on track for its fourth week of gain as dry weather in Argentina underpinned prices.
Wheat and corn are ready for weekly losses.
“Season 2021 prices continue to rise on recently traded high quarter levels,” said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. “Argentina’s weather forecast is helping to support prices.”
The most active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) added 0.5% to $ 14.17-1 / 4 per bushel before 0340 GMT. Soybeans are up almost 1% this week, the fourth consecutive week of market gains.
Wheat is down about 1.3% for the week and corn has lost 2.5%.
Buenos Aires Grains Trading said it could cut the harvest forecast for 2020/21 soy production in Argentina, the world’s leading soymeal exporter, if it doesn’t rain enough in key production areas overseas on the coming weeks.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will update its estimates of global supply in an upcoming monthly report Tuesday.
U.S. soybean prices are expected to decline in U.S. soybean stocks to supply just 9-1 / 2 days ahead of next North American harvest.
In Ukraine, exports could increase grain loads in the July-June season as harvests may reach a higher level, said the deputy economy minister in charge of agriculture.
For wheat, better weather in the Black Sea is putting pressure on prices.
A mild Russian winter has significantly improved the winter grain seeding situation, previously hit by a dry autumn, weather forecaster Hydrometcentre said Thursday, marking a clearer expectation for the country’s 2021 crop.
Most of Ukraine’s winter grain crops are in excellent condition due to favorable weather that the autumn of 2021 could lift to a high above 75 million tons, a senior government official said Thursday.
In news, China will raise the minimum purchase price for wheat and rice as appropriate in 2021, the country’s Chief Li Keqiang said in his annual performance report Friday at the opening of this year’s parliamentary meeting.
Li also said in his report that China will expand the production of edible oilseeds this year, and that the country would ensure the security of animal and plant breeding resources in the five years to 2025.
Commodity funds were net sellers of wheat, corn, and CBOT futures contracts on Thursday, and net buyers of soybean and soyoil contracts, traders said. (Reciting by Naveen Thukral)