CHICAGO, June 10 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat futures hit their lowest in more than a month on Monday on seasonal pressure from the expanding Northern Hemisphere harvest and declining Russian wheat prices, analysts said.
Corn and soybean futures firmed, consolidating after last week's multi-week lows as traders awaited updated weekly U.S. crop ratings.
On the Chicago Board of Trade, July wheat settled down 20 cents at $6.07-1/2 per bushel after a dip to $6.06-1/4, the contract's lowest since May 3.
CBOT July corn ended up 3 cents at $4.51-3/4 a bushel and July soybeans finished up 9 cents at $11.88-1/4 a bushel.
CBOT wheat fell more than 3% on talk of strong early yields as the harvest progressed in the southern U.S. Plains, and as parts of Russia looked set to receive much-needed moisture.
"Yields in Oklahoma have generally impressed, coming in better-than-expected, albeit with lower than hoped protein content," StoneX chief commodities economist Arlan Suderman wrote in a client note.
However, after the CBOT close, the USDA lowered its weekly U.S. crop condition ratings for both winter and spring wheat, while analysts on average had expected no change. The winter wheat harvest was 12% complete, the government said, ahead of the five-year average of 6% but on the low end of analyst estimates.
Meanwhile, forecasts called for welcome rains this week across portions of the Black Sea grain belt that should improve soil moisture, space technology company Maxar said in a daily weather note.
Wheat export prices in Russia, the world's top supplier, ended six weeks of gains to retreat last week following Turkey's decision to refuse wheat imports until mid-October. Turkey is the world's fifth largest wheat importer, buying mostly from Russia.
"This would mean that Black Sea wheat, especially Russian, which would have gone to Turkey may now be sold elsewhere in competition to U.S. and other exporters," said Matt Ammermann, StoneX commodity risk manager.
The USDA's corn and soybean crop ratings were in line with trade expectations. The agency late on Monday rated 74% of the U.S. corn crop in good to excellent condition, down a point from last week, and soybeans were rated 72% good to excellent in the USDA's first ratings of 2024 for the oilseed.
(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Aurora Ellis and Josie Kao)
