Wheat rises as supply concerns trigger short covering

CANBERRA, July 22 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat futures rose on Monday, as concerns over production in the United States and France triggered short-covering, lifting prices from last week's four-month low.

Soybean and corn futures also rose but remained near four-year lows as favourable crop weather in the U.S. Midwest supports expectations of plentiful harvests.

FUNDAMENTALS

* The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 1.2% at $5.49-1/4 a bushel by 0026 GMT after falling to $5.25 on July 16.

* CBOT soybeans rose 1% to $10.46-3/4 a bushel, close to last week's low of $10.32, and corn gained 0.9% to $4.04-3/4 a bushel, near last month's low of $4.

* Plentiful supply has seen speculators build large net short positions in all three contracts, leaving them vulnerable to short-covering.

* The condition of French soft wheat crops fell sharply last week to an eight-year low, with harvesting well behind the usual pace, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed.

* Some 12% of the U.S. spring wheat crop was located in a drought area as of July 16, up from 7% the prior week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said last week.

* Consultancy IKAR cut its forecast for Russia's 2024 grain harvest to 128 million metric tons from 129.5 million tons, though it kept its export forecast for wheat at 44 million tons after increasing its wheat harvest forecast to 83.2 million tons.

* Speculators' net short in Chicago soybeans expanded to a record high as strong U.S. crop prospects and an oversupply of beans in China have dragged futures to near four-year lows.

MARKETS NEWS

* Asian shares trod cautiously ahead of a packed week of corporate earnings that should test the sky-high valuations of tech stocks, while investors hoped a key reading in U.S. inflation would narrow the odds on a September rate cut.

(Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Rashmi Aich)