CBOT Trends-Wheat down 8-10 cents, corn down 4-5 cents, soybeans down 1-3 cents

CHICAGO, March 23 (Reuters) - The following are U.S. expectations for the resumption of grain and soy complex trading at the Chicago Board of Trade at 8:30 a.m. CDT (1330 GMT) on Monday:

WHEAT - Down 8 to 10 cents per bushel

• Grains and oilseeds fell as crude oil plunged on U.S. President Donald Trump's saying he would postpone any military strikes against Iranian power plants for five days, hours ahead of a deadline that threatened a further escalation in the conflict now in its fourth week.

• However, Iranian denials of talks with Washington slowed the slide in crude and led grain prices to pare losses. GRA/

• Grains and oilseed prices have broadly tracked fluctuations in crude oil during the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, reflecting the widespread use of corn and soyoil in biofuels and investor interest in the crops as an inflation hedge.

• Forecaster Commodity Weather Group said showers are expected to slowly build into the U.S. Southern Plains wheat by late April, but only patchy relief is expected for the driest portion of the crop.

• CBOT May soft red winter wheat WK26 was last down 9-3/4 cents at $5.85-1/2 per bushel. K.C. May hard red winter wheat KWK26 was last down 8-1/2 cents at $5.97-3/4 a bushel and Minneapolis May spring wheat MWEK26 was trading 3-1/4 cents lower at $6.24-3/4 per bushel.

CORN - Down 4 to 5 cents per bushel

• Corn futures ticked down following crude oil prices on Monday. Corn is sensitive to crude oil because of the widespread use of corn and soyoil in biofuel. O/R

• Planting of the second corn crop in Brazil's center-south reached 97% of the expected area, compared with 100% a year earlier, consultancy AgRural said on Monday.

• Forward export prices for Ukraine's 2026 corn harvest are being quoted at around $210 per metric ton CPT Black Sea ports, compared with the current price of $212–215 CPT, Ukrainian brokerage company Spike Brokers said over the weekend.

• CBOT May corn CK26 was last down 4-1/4 cents at $4.61-1/4 per bushel.

SOYBEANS - Down 1 to 3 cents per bushel

• Soybean futures eased as oil prices turned lower on Trump's comments about postponing strikes on Iran.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture said exporters sold 102,000 metric tons of corn to Mexico for 2025/2026 delivery.

• Brazilian farmers had harvested 68% of their 2025/26 soybean crop as of last Thursday, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday, up 8 percentage points from the previous week but below the 80% reported a year earlier.

• CBOT May soybeans SK26 were last down 2-1/2 cents at $11.58-3/4 per bushel.