CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade soybean and corn futures plunged on Friday but notched weekly gains, as weather forecasts indicated positive news for crops in the central United States.

Wheat dipped again as strong US spring wheat projections and cheap prices offered by Black Sea exporters outweighed the impact of rain delaying and damaging west EU harvests.

“We’re seeing the bull conviction that we had here through the early part of the week just not able to carry through and extend the recovery rally in front of the weekend,” said Terry Linn of Linn & Associates.

Chicago Board of Trade most-active soybeans ended down 31 cents to $10.48-1/2 per bushel. For the week, most active soybeans gained 1.2%. Corn settled down 10-3/4 cents to $4.10 a bushel while wheat fell 14-1/4 cents to finish at $5.23-1/2 a bushel. For the week, corn rose 1.3% and wheat fell 3.5%.

Hot, dry weather forecasts for the US Midwest have lost the consistency that supported corn and soybeans earlier this week, according to analysts.

On Thursday, the Commodity Weather Group said up to 20% of the US corn crop is likely to be stressed in the next two weeks, but more rain is now forecast in US crop belts next week - welcome news for corn and soybeans. “We are lacking a definable weather story here at the moment,” said Linn.

“At the same time, we’ve seen some cash movement that has helped to tap the brakes on the rally,” he said. He added that a weaker energy trade was also a negative influence.

In wheat, Linn said favourable US harvest prospects including record yield projections coming from the annual North Dakota spring wheat tour, pressured the market.

“This is the first year in several that we haven’t had any material drought and it’s showing in these yield expectations, he said.