Wheat rises for second session on lower European output

SINGAPORE, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat futures gained more ground on Monday, with prices supported by dry weather curbing production prospects in Europe and other exporting countries.

Soybeans rose for the first time in three sessions, underpinned by dry weather delaying planting in the world's biggest exporter Brazil.

FUNDAMENTALS

* The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) added 0.8% to $5.73 a bushel, as of 0010 GMT. Soybeans gained 0.5% to $10.17-1/4 a bushel and corn rose 0.5% to $4.03-3/4 a bushel.

* Grain trade association Coceral on Friday cut its estimate for this year's grain crop in the European Union and Britain to 280.3 million metric tons from 296 million tons projected in June and down nearly 5% on 2023 after adverse weather throughout the region.

* In addition to worries about the European crop, the wheat market is being supported by concerns about dryness in the Black Sea region, the U.S. Southern Plains and Argentina.

* Brazilian farmers have planted 0.5% of the projected 2024/25 soybean area in the country, below the 1.6% seen in the same period a year earlier, consultancy firm Safras & Mercado said on Friday. Dry and hot weather conditions are holding back work in the fields, which usually begins after the first rains in September.

* Soybean prices drew some support from weekly U.S. export sales that came in above trade expectations on Thursday, according to traders, but they were also pressured by the beginning of the harvest with expectations of large supplies.

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture also confirmed private sales of 121,000 tons of U.S. soybeans to China for delivery in the 2024/25 marketing year.

* China's soybean imports from the United States rose 70% in August from a year earlier, customs data showed on Friday, as buyers took advantage of low soybean prices.

* Large speculators increased their net short position in Chicago Board of Trade corn futures in the week to Sept. 17, regulatory data released on Friday showed.

* The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly commitments of traders report also showed that noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, trimmed their net short position in CBOT wheat and trimmed their net short position in soybeans.

MARKET NEWS

* Wall Street closed flat on Friday, hovering near the previous session's record-high close for the Dow and S&P 500, while the dollar firmed as investors digested the Federal Reserve's 50-basis-point cut midweek that started a rate reducing cycle.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT, Sept) 0715 France HCOB Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs 0730 Germany HCOB Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs 0800 EU HCOB Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs 0830 UK Flash Composite, Mfg, Serv PMIs 0945 US S&P Global Mfg, Svcs, Comp PMIs Flash (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Rashmi Aich)