BEIJING, June 14 (Reuters) - Chicago corn futures lost ground on Friday but were set for a second weekly climb, underpinned by concerns over rising temperatures in the U.S. and China, while soybeans and wheat also pared gains from the previous session.
The most active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 0.49% at $4.56-2/8 a bushel, as of 0452 GMT, after rising to a two-week high in the previous session.
Traders are monitoring U.S. forecasts as corn crops approach an important period for development in July amid worries about rising temperatures in the U.S. farm belt.
In China, searing temperatures and drought in parts of the country, including the wheat producing regions of Henan and Shandong, are adversely impacting summer planting, the agriculture ministry said on Thursday.
Wheat was down 0.97% at $6.14 a bushel, hovering near its lowest since May 6. It is set for a third consecutive weekly decline, down 2.15% for the week so far.
Soybeans fell 0.4% to trade at $11.84-6/8 a bushel, after rising 1.04% in the previous session. Soybeans have risen 0.49% so far this week, the first weekly rise in three.
"There wasn't enough supportive news in the report to stop the selling (in wheat) that we've seen over the last couple of weeks as U.S. harvest ramps up," Bergman Grains Research said in a note.
"Argentine production ideas are ticking higher, but still not enough to offset the drops in Russia, and India may need to import some wheat," it said.
Wheat planting in Argentina jumped sharply in the last week thanks to dry weather in much of the South American country, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange (BdeC) reported on Thursday.
The U.S Department of Agriculture cut its estimates for wheat production in Russia, the world's top supplier of the grain, and in Ukraine, following damaging frosts and dryness.
The USDA confirmed private sales of 120,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans for delivery to "unknown" destinations in the 2023/24 marketing year.
U.S. soy processing pace increased in May from a seven-month low a month earlier, as some crush plants resumed operations after seasonal downtime for maintenance and repairs and as margins improved, analysts said ahead of a National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) monthly report on Monday.
South Korea's Major Feedmill Group (MFG) purchased an estimated 60,000 metric tons of soymeal expected to be sourced from either South America or the United States in an international tender on Thursday, European traders said.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn, wheat, soybean, soymeal and soyoil futures contracts on Thursday, traders said.
(Reporting by Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Eileen Soreng and Sonia Cheema)
