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Chicago grains edge down as dollar and exports weigh

Chicago corn futures ticked lower on Friday as strength in the dollar and disappointing weekly U.S. export sales encouraged the market to move away from a 5-1/2-month top struck this week.

Wheat eased further from a two-week peak earlier in the week while soybeans also edged down, further pressured by weakness in related vegetable oil markets.

The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Cv1 was down 0.3% at $4.42-1/4 a bushel by 1117 GMT.

The contract had reached its highest since late June at $4.51-1/4 on Wednesday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its estimate for U.S. end-of-season corn stockpiles to 1.738 billion bushels from 1.938 billion.

But USDA weekly export data on Thursday showed net U.S. corn sales at 946,900 metric tons, below analyst forecasts for at least 1.1 million tons.

The dollar index .DXY, meanwhile, rose to a two-week high on Friday, making U.S. commodities more expensive overseas.

“Corn prices fell from technically overbought levels, dragging wheat prices down with them,” commodity data platform CM Navigator said in a note. “Weak U.S. weekly sales contributed to the negative sentiment.”

CBOT soybeans Sv1 fell 0.5% to $9.91 a bushel and CBOT wheat Wv1 inched down 0.1% to $5.58 a bushel.

U.S. weekly soybean sales of 1,173,800 metric tons were also below trade estimates, although the USDA later announced another 334,000 tons of daily sales to undisclosed buyers.

The prospect of huge South American production hangs over the soybean market. Brazilian national crop agency Conab and oilseed crushing group Abiove on Thursday increased their estimates for the country’s 2025 soybean crop, which could reach record levels following improved weather conditions.

In wheat, support this week from the USDA’s reduced estimate of U.S. ending stocks, as well as market chatter that a planned Russian export quota may be reduced, has been countered by rain forecast for U.S. crops and signs of good yields in southern hemisphere harvests.

The Grain Industry Association of Western Australia (GIWA) on Friday raised its estimates for wheat, barley and canola production in the state, saying yields from the ongoing harvest had continued to exceed expectations.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Peter Hobson in Canberra; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Jane Merriman)

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