CHICAGO: Chicago soyabean futures dipped Monday, as harvest pressure pushed the market lower and the US Columbus Day holiday created an absence of bullish factors, traders said.

Wheat gained on concerns over dryness across the US Great Plains that could limit winter wheat growth, while corn followed soyabeans lower.

Chicago Board of Trade most-active soyabeans fell 23-3/4 cents to $10.41-3/4 a bushel by 11:11 a.m. (1611 GMT), the biggest drop since April 1.

Corn dropped 4-3/4 cents to $3.90-1/4 a bushel and wheat rose 2-1/4 cents to $5.96 a bushel.

Soybeans found a two-year high on Friday after the US Department of Agriculture cut US supply estimates.

But the lack of fund trading activity and export sales due to the Columbus Day holiday left room for market pressure to take hold.

"A good portion of the market is out," said Ted Seifried, vice president at Zaner Group.

Seifried noted the fund traders' net long position has been a driving force behind the recent soyabean market rally, as well as strong export sales.

"USDA's closed. It shouldn't be a surprise, but the market doesn't like that we didn't see any flash sales this morning."

The USDA is expected to report significant harvest progress in its crop progress report, delayed until Tuesday due to the holiday.

"Farmers have done an excellent job of selling their bean crop," said Dan Smith, senior risk manager at Top Third Ag Marketing. "We might be getting a little plugged up in the elevators."

Meanwhile, wheat bucked the grain complex's downward trend as dryness in major winter wheat-producing countries threatened planting in the Black Sea region and the United States

"I've got a lot of guys planting wheat in the dust and it's not germinating. That's going to have some effect," said Smith.