Corn rises slightly as demand counters rapid harvest
U.S. corn and soy harvest progress quickly
Russia's agriculture ministry recommends floor on wheat prices
Corn export sales signify higher demand
Rewrites throughout, updates prices, analyst quotes, byline, adds bullets, changes dateline from PARIS/CANBERRA
By Renee Hickman
CHICAGO, Oct 17 (Reuters) -Chicago corn futures firmed slightly on Thursday during a choppy trading session asa brisk U.S. harvest and improved planting weather in South America limited gains but export demand provided support, analysts said.
Supply pressures also hung over soybeanfutures, while wheat ticked up as Russia proposed a floor for grain prices.
A combination of harvest pressure and fund selling has been a drag on corn futures prices for the past few weeks, said Angie Setzer, co-founder of Consus Ag Consulting. She said farmers tend to sell corn more aggressively in the first half of harvest.
Dry weather in the central United States has accelerated the harvest, with 47% of the corn crop and 67% of the soybean crop gathered by Sunday, according to the Department of Agriculture, well above the average pace of the last five years.
"Harvest pressure is obviously letting up, and I think to a certain extent, the fund selling is probably going to as well," Setzer said.
Corn saw signs that low prices are encouraging export demand, with USDA reporting a sale of 197,180 metric tonsto Mexico and another 101,000 metric tons to unknown destinations in a daily reporting system.
The USDA also reported on Wednesday that exporters sold 1.6 million metric tons of U.S. corn to Mexico.
U.S. grain prices had been curbed by a rising dollar .DXY and falling crude oil LCOc1 this week, though both markets consolidated on Thursday. MKTS/GLOB
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade Cv1 was up 3/4 cent at $4.05-1/2 a bushel by 11:49 CDT (1649 GMT).
CBOT soybeans Sv1 were 1 cent lower at $9.79 a bushel.
In wheat, showersthis week in some U.S. winter wheat zones and drought-affected areas of Russia are expected to aid crops. But futures prices got a boost fromRussian government efforts to regulate exports, analysts said.
CBOT wheat Wv1 was up 4 cents at $5.89 a bushel.
Reporting by Renee Hickman: Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Peter Hobson in Canberra; Editing by Mark Porter
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