GRAINS-Wheat plummets to five-year low as Russian exports increase

By Heather Schlitz

CHICAGO, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures fell to a five-year low on Tuesday on abundant global supplies before recovering later in the session. Top wheat exporter Russia has accelerated shipments in the past months after a slow start, and pressure from global harvests has been building.

Corn futures chopped up and down but remained under pressure from the ongoing U.S. harvest, while soy traders remained unsure whether a potential Washington-Beijing trade deal would revive Chinese purchases of U.S. beans.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade Wv1 was last up 3 cents to $4.99-3/4 per bushel at 11:20 a.m. CT (1620 GMT) after touching its lowest since August 2020 at $4.92-3/4 a bushel.

Soybeans Sv1 lost 2-3/4 cents to $10.05-3/4 a bushel and corn Cv1 rose 1-1/4 cents to $4.12 a bushel.

Consultants Sovecon last week raised their Russian wheat production estimate to 87.8 million tons from 87.2 million tons, reflecting record yields in Siberia.

Traders also expect large harvests in Argentina and Australia to hit the market over the coming months.

Crop conditions in most major wheat producers have been benign this year, though consistent rainfall in parts of China is disrupting its harvest.

In soybeans, attention is locked on China, the biggest soybean importer, which has halted purchases from the United States and is buying from South America instead.

U.S. President Donald Trump appeared over the weekend to dash hopes of a trade deal but he and other U.S. officials have softened their rhetoric.

"Things aren't getting significantly better with China yet," said Sherman Newlin, broker at Risk Management Commodities. "People are waiting for some sort of trade deal to maybe happen."

Meanwhile, an ongoing government shutdown that has deprived market players of crucial data on exports, demand and harvest progress has made traders cautious to make big moves in the market.