GRAINS-Ample production pushes wheat towards five-year lows

CANBERRA, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat futures fell to a three-month low on Tuesday, with prices drifting towards their lowest levels since 2020 as Northern Hemisphere harvests pour supply onto the market.

Soybean and corn futures also slipped amid high U.S. crop conditions ratings and plentiful South American production.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 was down 0.8% at $5.12-1/2 a bushel, as of 0244 GMT, with CBOT corn Cv1 falling 0.8% to $4.03-3/4 a bushel and soybeans Sv1 down 0.4% at $9.90-1/2 a bushel.

Wheat futures are nearing May's five-year low of $5.06-1/4, due to largely benign crop weather around the world that has boosted global output.

The only globally significant wheat crops still in growing phase, and therefore, vulnerable to weather risks are in Canada, Argentina and Australia, said Commonwealth Bank analyst Dennis Voznesenski.

"Conditions have recently improved in the trouble spots of Canada and Australia" but a worsening of weather in any of the three nations could lift prices, he said.

Ukraine's 2025 wheat output could be upgraded to 22 million metric tons from 21.2 million tons, and its corn production raised to 28 million tons from 26.5 million tons, the country's deputy economy minister said, adding that stable export demand will encourage farmers to expand winter wheat area for the 2026 crop.

In top shipper Russia, wheat export prices fell last week.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture in a report on Monday rated 48% of U.S. spring wheat as being in good or excellent condition, down a percentage point from a week earlier.

In other crops, the USDA's U.S. soybean and corn ratings were mostly steady from the previous week and at their highest levels in years.

Agribusiness consultancies said Brazil would produce more soybeans in the 2025/26 season than in 2024/25. Celeres Consultoria forecast a 177.2 million ton harvest and StoneX predicted 178.2 million tons.

StoneX also raised its forecast for Brazil's 2024/25 second corn crop, harvesting of which is entering its final stages, to 111.7 million tons, up 3.2% from its previous forecast.