* Wheat firms on weather concerns, exports
    * Soybean prices fall from nine-month high

 (Recasts, updates with U.S. trading, adds new analyst comment,
changes byline, dateline)
    By Mark Weinraub
    CHICAGO, April 17 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat futures rose 1.2
percent on Thursday, supported by concerns that a recent cold
snap in key growing areas damaged some of the developing crop,
traders said.
    "The weather concerns are centered around hard wheat, and
you've had a freeze event at the beginning of the week. The
thing is, you don't see that damage right away," said Terry Linn
	

		

			
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of the Linnn Group, a Chicago brokerage. "You need to wait until
the crop gets farther along to be able to tell."
    Wheat also received support from better-than-expected export
sales in a weekly U.S. government report.
    Corn and soybeans eased, with soy setting back on some mild
profit taking after bigger-than-expected crush data sparked a
rally that pushed prices to a nine-month high earlier in the
week.
    Corn prices fell through key support points on expectations
that warming weather will allow farmers to pick up their pace of
planting during the next week. 
    Traders noted some end-of-week position squaring in all
three commodities. The Chicago Board of Trade will be closed on
Friday for the Good Friday holiday. Trading resumes on Sunday at
7 p.m. CDT (0000 GMT)
    CBOT May soft red winter wheat was up 8-1/4 cents at
$6.96-1/4 a bushel at 11:34 a.m. CDT (1634 GMT). K.C. May hard
red winter wheat, which tracks the crop in the U.S.
Plains, was up 10 cents at $7.64-1/2 a bushel.
    The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Thursday morning
that weekly export sales of wheat for the 2013/14 crop year were
438,000 tonnes, topping forecasts ranging from 50,000 to 250,000
tonnes. 
	

		

			
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    CBOT wheat futures have risen 5.4 percent so far this week.
    CBOT soybeans for May delivery shed 4-1/2 cents to
$15.14-1/4 a bushel while May corn dipped 3-1/2 cents to
$4.94 a bushel.
    For the week, soybeans have risen 3.5 percent and were on
track for their biggest weekly gain in nine weeks. Corn has
fallen 0.9 percent during the week.
    "Soybeans continue to be supported by the U.S. crushing data
that came out a few days ago, while the continuing strong export
demand is also contributing," said Vanessa Tan, investment
analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
    USDA said that old-crop soybean export sales totaled 19,200
tonnes, within market expectations. For weeks, traders have been
bracing for a report that showed large cancellations from China,
the world's top buyer of the oilseed.
    Chinese buyers may default on a further 1.2 million tonnes
of soybeans worth about $900 million being shipped from the
United States and South America, to avoid incurring huge losses
in a depressed local market, the country's top soy buyer said.
 
 Prices at 11:37 a.m. CDT (1637 GMT)                               
 
                              LAST      NET    PCT     YTD
                                        CHG    CHG     CHG
 CBOT corn                  494.00    -3.50  -0.7%   17.1%
 CBOT soy                  1513.50    -5.25  -0.4%   15.3%
 CBOT meal                  487.30    -3.70  -0.8%   11.3%
 CBOT soyoil                 43.56    -0.15  -0.3%   12.2%
 CBOT wheat                 695.50     7.50   1.1%   14.9%
 CBOT rice                 1535.00    -3.50  -0.2%   -1.0%
 EU wheat                   217.00    -1.50  -0.7%    3.8%
 
	

		

			
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 US crude                   104.14     0.43   0.4%    5.8%
 Dow Jones                  16,402      -23  -0.1%   -1.1%
 Gold                      1297.29    -5.11  -0.4%    7.6%
 Euro/dollar                1.3813  -0.0001   0.0%    1.2%
 Dollar Index              79.8450   0.0420   0.1%   -0.2%
 Baltic Freight                930       -6  -0.6%  -59.2%
        
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 Julie Ingwersen in Chicago and Colin
Packham in Sydney; Editing by Marguerita Choy)