* U.S. corn, soybean harvests set to be smaller than expected
* Improving weather continues to weigh on the market
* USDA report shows wheat ending stocks improving
(Updates throughout with WASDE report; new headline, new bullets, latest prices and analyst comments, changes byline/dateline, previous PARIS/SINGAPORE)
CHICAGO, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures was steady to lower on Friday, while corn firmed, after the U.S. government forecast that dry conditions early in the growing season would mean smaller harvests of both this fall.
Both forecasts from the U.S. Agriculture Department's monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report fell below market expectations.
U.S. crops endured drought and high temperatures earlier in the summer but regular showers and moderate heat in August have eased concerns about crop stress.
Still, the corn crop, if realized, would be the second biggest on record due to large acreage and as growing conditions improved during the key development month of July.
The U.S. is expected to be the No. 2 exporter of soy and corn, after Brazil, this year.
Meanwhile, Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures slumped as the government report showed wheat ending stocks improving, particularly for hard-red winter wheat, said Craig Turner, commodities trader at Daniels Trading.
Forecasts for improving weather for U.S. Midwest crops, which pushed corn and soybean futures to multi-week lows early this week, continues to weigh on prices.
And the absence of further war escalation in the Black Sea was curbing the wheat market, traders and analysts said.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was unchanged at $13.18-1/4 a bushel by 1659 GMT. Corn was up 2 cents at $4.98-1/4 a bushel and wheat was down 6 cents at $6.31-3/4 a bushel.
Immediately after the report was released, soybean futures turned higher and corn futures extended gains on news of the corn and soybean yields dropping, Turner said.
But "when you look at the numbers, they really didn't deliver anything too shocking on either side of the coin," said Jim Gerlach, president of A/C Trading. "Both bulls and bears feel like they dodged a bullet today." (Additional reporting by Thomas Polansek and Mark Weinraub in Chicago, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Sherry Jacob-Phillips, David Evans and Richard Chang)
