US soyabean futures fell Friday on improved prospects for crop-saving rain in corn and soya areas of Argentina and southern Brazil, as well as a sharp drop in crude oil prices, traders said. "The forecast has turned even wetter than Thursday's outlook, and only a few eastern areas (Argentina) appear at risk for lingering dry spots," said Joel Widenor, meteorologist for Commodity Weather Group.
Wheat also fell, setting back from a 2.3 percent rally on Thursday as traders locked in profits amid plentiful global supplies. Corn was mixed, with the front-month contract hovering around unchanged while deferred months dropped on expectations for large plantings of corn in the United States come spring.
At 10:52 am CST (1652 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade March soyabean futures were down 11-1/4 cents at $11.85-3/4 a bushel. CBOT March wheat fell 5 cents to $6.00-3/4 a bushel. The benchmark CBOT March corn contract lost 1/2 cent to $6.05-1/2 while new-crop December was 7 cents lower at $5.50 a bushel. For the week, CBOT soyabeans were up 2.3 percent while corn was up 1.0 percent. Wheat has fallen 0.2 percent so far this week, tracking its third straight week of losses.