By Jae Hur Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat dropped for a second day, trimming a weekly advance, after a government report showed tumbling overseas sales by the U.S., the world’s biggest exporter of the grain. Weekly export sales of wheat plunged 75 percent to 93,432 metric tons in the week ended Dec. 31, the least since the start of the marketing year on June 1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported. “Yesterday’s U.S. export-sales data continued putting pressure on the grains market,” said Tomokazu Amano, research team chief at Mitsubishi Corp. Futures Ltd. in Tokyo. Investors are now looking to the Jan. 12 release of monthly USDA supply- and-demand figures for direction, he said. Wheat for March delivery dropped as much as 2.2 percent to $5.4525 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. The contract was at $5.5425 at 12:32 p.m. Paris time, heading for a weekly gain of 2.4 percent after rising last week. Prices yesterday touched $5.68, the highest level since Dec. 4. Inventories of wheat in the U.S., the world’s biggest exporter, may rise to 921 million bushels before this year’s harvest from 657 million bushels last year, according to an average forecast of 20 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. That compares with a 900 million-bushel USDA estimate. Shipments Drop Overseas buyers committed through Dec. 31 to purchase 16.5 million tons of U.S. wheat in the marketing year that began June 1, down 25 percent from a year earlier, government data showed. Actual shipments slid 28 percent to 12.7 million tons. Milling wheat for March delivery traded on Liffe in Paris fell 0.4 percent to 133.50 euros ($190.89) a ton. Soybeans for March delivery lost as much as 1 percent to $10.1625 a bushel in Chicago. The most-active contract was last at $10.215, taking the weekly decline to 2.6 percent. Prices fell 3.1 percent yesterday on signs China, the world’s biggest oilseed importer, is moving to control growth and inflation. China sold three-month bills yesterday at a higher interest rate for the first time in 19 weeks, after saying it wants to contain a record expansion. Corn for March delivery added 0.4 percent to the day’s high of $4.19 a bushel. The contract was up 1.1 percent this week, set for a third straight weekly advance. Weekly sales of U.S. corn fell 53 percent in the week ended Dec. 31 to 364,700 tons, the least in seven weeks, the USDA said yesterday. To contact the reporter on this story: Jae Hur in Tokyo at jhur1@bloomberg.net

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