CBOT wheat ends down 2% on harvest pressure; snaps 3-session climb

CHICAGO, June 9 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures fell more than 2% on Monday on seasonal pressure from the start of the Northern Hemisphere winter wheat harvest and as speculators paused after a short-covering bounce last week, traders said.

• CBOT July soft red winter wheat WN25 settled down 12-3/4 cents at $5.42 per bushel, snapping a three-session rally.

• K.C. July hard red winter wheat KWN25 ended down 11-3/4 cents at $5.37-1/2 a bushel and Minneapolis July spring wheat MWEN25 fell 12-3/4 cents to finish at $6.22-1/2 a bushel.

• Russian agricultural consultancy Sovecon raised its forecast for Russia's 2025 wheat harvest by 1.8 million metric tons to 82.8 million tons, citing good weather. Russia is the world's biggest wheat exporter.

• Ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly crop progress report due later on Monday, analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the government to show the U.S. winter wheat harvest as 8% complete, up from 3% a week ago.

• Analysts on average expected the USDA to leave winter wheat condition ratings unchanged while spring wheat ratings were expected to improve to 51% good-to-excellent, up a percentage point from the prior week.

• The USDA reported export inspections of U.S. wheat in the latest week at 290,957 tons, toward the low side of trade expectations for 250,000 to 600,000 tons. USDA/I

• Tunisia's grain harvest will rise to 2 million metric tons this season, an official at the agriculture ministry said, up from about 1.1 million metric tons last year.