[CHICAGO] US wheat futures fell more than 3 per cent on Monday (Feb 1) to their lowest in nearly 2 weeks on forecasts of welcome moisture in the US Plains wheat belt and waning fears of imminent conflict between Russia and Ukraine, traders said.

Corn futures followed wheat down, turning lower in a retreat from contract highs set early in the session. But soybeans closed higher, reaching a seven-month top on expectations that drought-stressed South American harvests could shift demand to the US.

Chicago Board of Trade March wheat settled down 25 US cents at US$7.61-1/4 per bushel. March corn ended down 10 cents at US$6.26 a bushel.

Wheat backed down from a near two-month high set last week driven by political tension between Russia and Ukraine, both major global exporters of wheat and corn.

"The Russians have said they are not going to do anything before the end of the Olympics, so we've got pretty much the month of February to work something out," said Jack Scoville with the Price Futures Group in Chicago.

Meanwhile, US forecasts called for storms at mid-week that should bring beneficial snowfall to much of the Plains and Midwest wheat belts, and softening cash markets indicated slowing domestic wheat demand from flour mills.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

Soybean futures shook off the weaker tone in grains and climbed to life-of-contract highs, fueled by worries about declining estimates of South American crops.

CBOT March soybeans settled up 20-1/2 cents at US$14.90-1/2 a bushel after reaching US$14.96-3/4, a contract top and the highest on a continuous chart of the most-active soybean contract since Jun 14.

Agribusiness consultancies AgRural and AgResource trimmed their forecasts for Brazil's 2021/22 soybean crop due to bad weather, estimating the expected output below the 130 million-tonne threshold.

AgRural said it expected Brazil's harvest to reach 128.5 million tonnes, down from 133.4 million previously, while AgResource pegged the crop at 125 million tonnes from 131 million previously.

"Farmers in Brazil look like being reluctant sellers in this uncertainty. This is again opening up the debate about soybean export demand being switched from South America to the United States at a time of pretty tight US soybean supplies," said Matt Ammermann, StoneX commodity risk manager.

Smaller South American soybean harvests are likely to push major soybean export business to the US from June, Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said last week. REUTERS