Weather Worries Boosts Chicago Grain Futures to Multi-Month Highs – Renee Hickman’s Impact

Because of Renee Hickman

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Soybean, wheat and corn futures in Chicago hit multi-month highs on Monday on worries about weather in Brazil and Russia that could damage crops and pending updated information on plantations and crop conditions in the United States.

* Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) July wheat futures rose 22.75 cents to $6.4525 a bushel by 1656 GMT, after hitting their highest level since December.

* CBOT July corn rose 7.25 cents to $4.6750 a bushel, after hitting its highest point since January, while July soybeans rose 27 cents to $12.42 a bushel, hitting four-year highs year too.

* Wheat production was boosted by volatile weather in Russia, including drought in the south of the country and frost in May in some areas. The consulting firm IKAR last week cut its forecasts for the world’s largest wheat exporter.

* Meanwhile, prospects for the soybean harvest in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul are fading after heavy rains lashed fields, leaving about a quarter of the grains unharvested.

* The rains could also reduce the state’s corn volume and further cut South American supplies after cuts in Argentine crop estimates.

* Grain traders were also monitoring the progress of corn and soybean plantings in the US Midwest amid bad weather, said Bill Lapp, president of Advanced Economic Solutions.

* Weather volatility also drove asset activity, analysts said.

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture will provide an update on wheat conditions and the progress of corn and soybean plantings later Monday. On Friday, the USDA will release monthly forecasts for global supply and demand.

(Reporting by Renee Hickman, additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore. Editing in Spanish by Javier Leira)