SINGAPORE, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures gained further ground on Monday, with prices supported by dry weather in key supplier Argentina which has raised concerns over supplies.
Wheat edged higher, recouping last session's losses, although record supplies from the Black Sea region curbed gains.
FUNDAMENTALS
* The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 0.3% to $14.97 a bushel, as of 0117 GMT, wheat gained 0.2% at $7.44-3/4 a bushel and corn added 0.1% to $6.54-3/4 a bushel.
* Poor crop weather in Argentina is underpinning the soybean market.
* For wheat, the availability of abundant low-priced supplies from Russia and Ukraine are giving stiff competition to other global exporters, traders said.
* Reports of a record crop expected in Australia, the world's second-largest exporter of the grain, also weighed on prices.
* However, costs for hiring ships to transport commodities from the Black Sea have risen by more than a fifth since the start of the year, reflecting higher war risk insurance rates, industry sources said.
* A surge in the cost of most food commodities last year, as the disruption caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine raised concerns of shortages, sent the U.N. food agency's average price index to the highest level on record.
* The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index, which tracks international prices of the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 143.7 points in 2022, up 14.3% from 2021, and the highest since records started in 1990, the agency said on Friday.
* Large speculators raised their net long position in CBOT corn futures in the week to Jan. 3, regulatory data released on Friday showed.
* The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly commitments of traders report also showed that noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, trimmed their net short position in CBOT wheat and raised their net long position in soybeans.
MARKET NEWS
* Asian shares rallied on Monday as hopes for less aggressive U.S. rate hikes and the opening of China's borders bolstered the outlook for the global economy.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT, Nov) 0030 Australia Building Approvals 0700 Germany Industrial Output MM 0700 Germany Industrial Production YY 1000 EU Unemployment Rate (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
