GRAINS-Wheat down 1.4% on ample supplies, soybeans fall for 2nd session

By Naveen Thukral

SINGAPORE, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat lost more ground on Tuesday due to concerns about additional supplies, after a larger-than-expected crop forecast for Russia and India's move to allow exports.

Soybeans slid for a second session as the market pulled back from last week's multi-month highs, weighed down by weak demand from the world's largest buyer, China, during a week-long holiday.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 lost 1.4% to $5.41 a bushel, as of 0312 GMT, and corn Cv1 slid 0.6% to $4.29 a bushel.

Soybeans Sv1 fell 0.6% to $11.26-1/2 a bushel, after climbing to their highest since early December last week.

The outlook for large global wheat harvests in 2026 weighed on prices. IKAR, a consultancy, raised its forecast for Russia's 2026 wheat crop, the world's largest exporter, to 91 million metric tons, up from 88 million tons earlier.

On Friday, India allowed the export of 2.5 million tons of wheat.

Soybean demand slowed this week as the Lunar New Year holiday in China and across parts of Asia curbed buying activity.

Soybeans rallied after U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this month that China is considering buying more U.S.-farmed soybeans, and a report in the South China Morning Post said Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could extend their countries' trade truce for as long as a year.

The decline in corn futures was limited by concerns over grain quality in China. Chinese buyers have ramped up feed grain purchases in recent months, taking large volumes of Australian barley and U.S. sorghum after rain damaged the domestic corn harvest, trade sources said.

Large speculators trimmed their net short position in Chicago Board of Trade corn futures in the week to Feb. 10, regulatory data released on Friday showed.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly commitments of traders report also showed that non-commercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, increased their net short position in CBOT wheat and switched to a net long position in soybeans.