GRAINS-Soybeans, corn set for weekly losses on trade war disruptions

By Naveen Thukral and Sybille de La Hamaide

SINGAPORE/PARIS, March 14 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean and corn futures inched lower on Friday, with both commodities on track for weekly losses, as concerns over trade conflicts disrupting trade flows and abundant South American supplies weighed on prices.

Wheat eased, but the market is set for a weekly gain amid expectations of lower exports from Russia.

"The supply side for soybeans is pretty bearish," said a grains trader in Singapore. "We have big crops in South America and the trade war is going to hit demand for U.S. agriculture if tariffs remain in place."

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 slid 0.2% at $10.08-1/2 a bushel, as of 1209 GMT, and corn Cv1 gave up 1.3% to $4.59-1/4 a bushel.

Wheat Wv1 shed 0.7% to $5.58-3/4 a bushel.

Grain markets faced pressure this week following the implementation of revised U.S. tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports, which prompted the European Union and Canada to announce retaliatory duties on several U.S. goods.

The EU package, which could see the bloc reintroduce a 25% duty on U.S. corn and potentially add a tariff on U.S. soybeans, added to concerns about disruption to exports from the country caused by President Donald Trump's tariff offensive.

For the week, soybeans have lost 1.6% corn 2%, while wheat has gained 1.5%.

There is likely to be support for soybeans and corn markets, given the lower estimates for output in key supplier Argentina.

Argentina's 2024/25 soybean crop is now estimated at 46.5 million metric tons, down from the 47.5 million tons previously expected, according to a forecast from the Rosario Grains Exchange on Wednesday.

The exchange also lowered its outlook for the 2024/25 corn harvest to 44.5 million tons, from a prior 46 million tons.

Russia's IKAR consultancy said on Thursday that it had cut its baseline 2024/25 wheat export forecast to around 41 million tons from 42.5 million tons.

Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn, wheat, soymeal and soybean futures contracts on Thursday, traders said. Funds were net sellers of soyoil futures, traders said. COMFUND/CBT