CHICAGO, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures closed mixed on Thursday, with corn and wheat dropping and soybean rising.

The most active corn contract for May delivery fell 2.75 cents, or 0.51 percent, to settle at 5.325 U.S. dollars per bushel. May wheat lost 5 cents, or 0.76 percent, to settle at 6.51 dollars per bushel. May soybean rose 3 cents, or 0.21 percent, to close at 14.105 dollars per bushel.

Weather in South America and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) March Crop Report to be released on Tuesday will direct CBOT valuations next week, with May corn holding support at 5.30 dollars, May wheat at 6.20 dollars and soybean futures pushing to highs, Chicago-based research company AgResource noted.

U.S. export sales for the week ending Feb. 25 were 8.1 million bushels of wheat, 4.6 million bushels of corn and 12.3 million bushels of soybeans. For respective crop years to date, the United States has sold 874 million bushels of wheat, up 3 percent; 2,328 million bushels of corn, up 122 percent; and 2,210 million bushels of soybeans, up 77 percent. The United States has now sold 88 percent of the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) corn export estimate and 98.5 percent of the soybean export forecast.

China shipped 14 million bushels of corn and 12 million bushels of soybeans. China has imported a record 34.5 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans, according to AgResource, which expects China will purchase 21 to 23 million metric tons of corn in 2020-2021.

Russian Crop Service issued its winter wheat condition report, showing falls in conditions relative to the past five years. AgResource maintains a 2021 Russian all wheat crop estimate of 76 to 78 million metric tons.

Weather forecast shows near to above normal rain will fall for Northern Brazil while a flash drought deepens across Argentina into March 20.

Crop losses in South America due to adverse weather could be especially bullish for U.S. corn. AgResource expects that China will secure an additional 2 million to 3 million metric tons of old crop corn this spring and import all the 10 million metric tons of open sales. Enditem

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