CANBERRA, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat prices rose on Monday as traders worried about dry weather shrinking harvests in Argentina and Australia and Russian attacks damaging Ukraine's ability to export grain.
Corn and soybean prices also rose.
FUNDAMENTALS:
* The most-active Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat futures were up 1% at $5.74-1/2 a bushel by 0033 GMT, having recovered from a three-year low of $5.40 late last month.
* CBOT corn rose 0.5% to $4.94-1/4 a bushel and soybeans were 0.5% higher at $12.72-3/4 a bushel.
* Argentina's core agricultural farmland could suffer "massive losses" in wheat yields due to another drought, the Rosario Grains Exchange said, though it has not yet changed its forecast for the country's harvest.
* In Australia, meanwhile, areas of severe rainfall deficiency expanded during the driest September on record, the country's weather bureau said.
* Much-needed rains in some parts of Australia last week helped stabilise crop expectations, but wheat production is forecast to come in around two-fifths lower than last year.
* However, the market is for the time being awash with cheap grain exports from Russia and the effect of lower southern hemisphere harvests on wheat prices is unlikely to be felt until later in the year, analysts at StoneX said.
* In Ukraine, grain exports are down 27.8% to 6.92 million metric tons so far in the 2023/24 July-June season, the government said, as Russian attacks on the country's export infrastructure continued on Friday and Sunday.
* Ukraine has harvested 46.7 million tons of grain and oilseeds from the new 2023 harvest so far, including 22.2 million tons of wheat, the agriculture ministry said on Friday.
* Money managers in the week ended Oct. 3 expanded their sizable net short in CBOT wheat futures and options to 98,788 contracts from 96,384 a week earlier.
* Speculators also slashed their net long position in CBOT soybeans to 5,001 contracts from 30,058 a week earlier, taking them close to a net short that they last held in April 2020.
* On Friday, commodity funds were net sellers of Chicago soybeans, corn, wheat, soymeal and soyoil futures, traders said.
* Corn and soybean prices are under pressure from the ongoing U.S. harvest, which is adding to supply, and record production in Brazil, the biggest exporter.
* Analysts polled by Reuters expect the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a report due on Oct. 12 to slightly downgrade its estimates for the U.S. corn and soy harvests.
* Reuters also polled analysts on U.S. forecasts for 2023-24 U.S. and global ending stocks for wheat, corn and soybeans.
* The drought in Argentina is delaying planting of corn and if dry weather persists the area planted could fall, the Rosario exchange and Buenos Aires grains exchange said.
* French farmers had harvested 27% of this year's grain maize (corn) crop by Oct. 2, compared with 12% a week earlier, farm office FranceAgriMer said on Friday.
MARKETS NEWS
* U.S. stock futures slipped as the military conflict in the Middle East boosted oil and Treasuries and a sizzling September U.S. jobs report raised the rate stakes for inflation figures later in the week. (Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
