CANBERRA/PARIS, July 19 (Reuters) - Chicago corn and
soybean futures rose on Friday but were near their lowest levels
since 2020 and heading for weekly losses due to favorable crop
weather in the United States and expectations of plentiful
supply.
    Wheat futures were also on track for a weekly decline, with
prices close to four-month lows.
        The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of
Trade (CBOT) was up 0.3% at $10.46 a bushel by 1050 GMT,
with CBOT corn 0.5% higher at $4.07 a bushel and wheat
 up 1% at $5.40-3/4 a bushel.
  
        All three contracts were down about 1.8% from last
Friday's close, their second consecutive weekly loss. 
  
    "These markets are pretty well supplied," said Andrew
Whitelaw at consultants Episode 3 in Canberra. 
    U.S. crop weather has been generally beneficial, bolstering
expectations of large U.S. corn and soybean harvests, and the
U.S. wheat harvest is progressing rapidly, adding new supply to
the market.
    China is facing an oversupply of soybeans as record-high
purchases boost stockpiles at a time when animal feed demand
remains subdued.
    Soybeans were also under pressure from the prospect of a
Donald Trump election victory renewing a trade war with Beijing
and hindering U.S. exports to China, Whitelaw said.
    The International Grains Council (IGC) on Thursday raised
its forecast for 2024/25 world corn production by 2 million
metric tons to 1.225 billion tons and its world wheat output
estimate by 8 million tons to 801 million tons, adding to
expectations of strong supply. 
        In France, the 
    condition of soft wheat crops
     fell sharply last week to an eight-year low and harvesting
remained well behind the usual pace, data from farm office
FranceAgriMer showed, as rain fell in already soggy grain belts.
  
    Weekly export sales of U.S. old-crop corn totalled 437,800
tons, below trade expectations, while new-crop corn sales
totalled 486,700 tons, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
reported.  
    Soybeans got a boost on Thursday after the USDA confirmed
private sales of 510,000 metric tons of U.S. new-crop soybeans
to undisclosed destinations, the largest daily "flash sale" of
U.S. soybeans since November. 
    Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybeans on
Thursday, net sellers of corn and net even in wheat, traders
said. Speculators hold large net short positions in all three
crops.
    
 Prices at 1050 GMT                                     
                                 Last    Change      Pct
                                                    Move
  CBOT wheat                   540.75      5.50     1.03
  CBOT corn                    407.00      2.00     0.49
  CBOT soy                    1046.00      3.00     0.29
  Paris wheat                  219.50      4.50     2.09
  Paris maize                  219.50      2.00     0.92
  Paris rapeseed               487.00     -0.25    -0.05
  WTI crude oil                 82.55     -0.27    -0.33
  Euro/dlr                       1.09      0.00    -0.11
 Most active contracts - Wheat, corn and soy US
 cents/bushel, Paris futures in euros per tonne
 
 (Reporting by Peter Hobson and Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing
by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Sohini Goswami)