GRAINS-Corn futures lower as farmers sell, soy choppy

By Heather Schlitz

CHICAGO, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Chicago corn futures ticked lower on Tuesday on selling pressure as soybeans chopped up and down, though expectations of a bumper U.S. harvest limited the upside in prices, analysts said.

Wheat prices firmed on a technical bounce as ample global supply has kept futures anchored.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade Sv1 was last up 3/4 cent at $10.48-1/2 a bushel as of 12:15 p.m. CT (1715) GMT.

Corn Cv1 lost 3 cents to $4.09-1/4 a bushel, and wheat Wv1 rose 2-3/4 cents to $5.32 a bushel.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its good-to-excellent rating for the nation's soybean crop and kept its corn crop rating steady in a weekly report on Monday, surprising analysts who had expected slight declines.

The agency rated 71% of the corn crop as being in good or excellent shape as of August 24, unchanged from a week earlier. It increased the soybean crop rating to 69% good-to-excellent, up from 68% the previous week.

Expectations of higher U.S. output come as China continues to remain away from the market amid Washington-Beijing trade tensions.

Corn has been hit by selling pressure as farmers clear their old-crop corn to make room for a hefty new crop.

Meanwhile, wheat has benefited from a technical rebound as traders exited short positions, though prices remained near four-year lows.

Russia's IKAR consultancy has raised its 2025 wheat crop forecast to 86.0 million metric tons, up from 85.5 million tons previously and lifted its wheat export outlook to 43.0 million tons, up from 42.5 million tons. Russia is the world's largest wheat exporter.

"The big problem is there's way too much wheat globally to compete against, and we're not getting business on a consistent basis," Mark Schultz, analyst at Northstar Commodity, said.