GRAINS-U.S. soybeans, wheat rise but corn closes lower

* CBOT soy breaks 3-session losing streak on bargain buying,
crop concerns
* Wheat firms following frost in Argentina
* Corn eases, pressured by ongoing U.S. harvest

(Updates with closing U.S. prices, adds new analyst quote)
By Mark Weinraub
CHICAGO, Sept 24 (Reuters) - U.S. soybean futures rose on
Tuesday, buoyed by technical buying and worries that recent
rainfall in the U.S. Midwest may have arrived too late to
provide much benefit to the crop, traders said.
Wheat futures also closed firm, turning higher late in the
trading day on concerns that freezing temperatures may harm the

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crop in Argentina. Corn weakened, setting back from gains on
Monday on seasonal harvest pressure.
Bargain buyers stepped in to boost soybean prices after
front-month futures fell to $13.05-1/4 a bushel - their
lowest since Aug. 21 - during the overnight session.
The soybean market was ripe for a rebound as prices have
fallen more than a dollar in less than a month, but traders
warned that Tuesday's gains might not be sustainable.
"It is tough to tell whether today is just turnaround
Tuesday and you are getting a (temporary) bounce after the
correction, or if the market really does not want to press below
$13," said Garret Toay, risk management consultant with Toay
Commodities Futures Group.
CBOT November soybeans settled up 4-3/4 cents at
$13.12-1/2 a bushel. Through Monday, soy prices had fallen three

days in a row and in five of the last six sessions.
Stagnant crop conditions, and reports of variable yields
from the early harvest, helped the bullish case for soybeans.
"Some yields still seem to be pretty up and down," said Mark
Schultz, analyst with Northstar Commodity Investment Co.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Monday rated 50
percent of the soybean crop in good to excellent condition as of
Sunday, unchanged from the previous week and 1 percentage point
better than market expectations.
"This, coupled with the uncertainty over whether the soybean
acreage figures stated so far are actually correct or whether
the acreage may in fact be smaller after all, is lending support
to soybean prices," Commerzbank said in a note.
With the U.S. soybean harvest under way - 3 percent of the
crop had been cut by Sept. 22 - commodity analysts remain unsure
about how many acres were planted with the oilseed last spring,

making it difficult to determine the crop size of the world's
largest producer.
CBOT December corn ended off 4-1/2 cents at $4.48-3/4
a bushel. Grain dealers have said corn yields from the early
harvest were better than expected across the Midwest, leading to
a surprise bump in farmer selling during the past few weeks.
Farmers had been expected to put into storage much of the
corn they had not already contracted to bring to elevators and
processors, but the abundant yield caused a spike in fresh
sales.
CBOT December wheat was up 4-3/4 cents at $6.58-1/4 a
bushel, as the Argentine weather raised the prospects for U.S.
exporters to win some new business amid burgeoning overseas
demand.
"We've seen near-record levels of exports last week and the
week before out of the U.S., and the U.S. balance sheets are

certainly looking very tight," said Chris Gadd, grains analyst
at Macquarie Capital. "Wheat is far tighter than people had
expected."
But U.S. wheat, which is still more expensive than supplies
from most other parts of the world, will have to compete with a
hefty Canadian crop on international markets, analysts said.
Prices at 1:55 p.m. CDT (1855 GMT)
LAST NET PCT YTD
CHG CHG CHG
CBOT corn 448.75 -4.50 -1.0% -35.7%
CBOT soy 1312.50 4.75 0.4% -7.5%
CBOT meal 414.10 3.00 0.7% -1.5%
CBOT soyoil 41.84 -0.13 -0.3% -14.9%
CBOT wheat 658.25 4.75 0.7% -15.4%
CBOT rice 1548.50 -5.00 -0.3% 4.2%
EU wheat 187.75 0.75 0.4% -25.0%

US crude 103.40 -0.19 -0.2% 12.6%
Dow Jones 15,399 -2 0.0% 17.5%
Gold 1324.70 3.16 0.2% -20.9%
Euro/dollar 1.3477 -0.0015 -0.1% 2.1%
Dollar Index 80.5590 0.1120 0.1% 1.0%
Baltic Freight 2021 74 3.8% 189.1%
In U.S. cents, benchmark contracts, except EU wheat (euros) and
soymeal (dollars). CBOT wheat, corn and soybeans per bushel,
rice per hundredweight, soymeal per ton and soyoil per lb.

(Additional reporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore and
Agnieszka Flak in Milan; Editing by John Wallace and Chizu
Nomiyama)