By Luzi Ann Javier Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat and corn declined, heading for their second weekly loss, after the International Grains Council raised its estimate for global production of grains and stockpiles. Soybeans also dropped. Wheat for March delivery slumped 1.6 percent to $4.9175 a bushel in after-hours electronic trading on the Chicago Board of Trade at 1:50 p.m. Singapore time, taking its loss for the week to 3.6 percent. March-delivery corn declined 1.2 percent to $3.675 a bushel and is heading for a 1.2 percent loss this week. The council raised its output forecast for all grains worldwide to 1.77 billion tons this year, from 1.76 billion tons, mostly reflecting higher wheat, corn and barley output in North America and the former Soviet Union countries. The forecast “is exerting further pressure on prices,” Paul McKay, a director at Commodity Broking Services Pty, said by phone from Sydney. Agricultural commodities “are in for a bit of a major downfall. With abundant world supply, that’s what’s going to have to happen,” he said. Wheat harvests worldwide may reach 674 million metric tons this year, the grains council said yesterday, up from the group’s November forecast of 668 million tons. Stockpiles will rise to 197 million tons, from the previous estimate of 191 million tons and 165 million last year. The global corn crop will match last year’s 791 million ton harvest, up from the 787 million tons forecast in November, the council said. Soybeans Soybeans for March delivery declined 0.8 percent to $9.46 a bushel and are heading for a 2.9 percent loss this week. Global soybean production may reach a record 253.4 million tons, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Jan. 12. Favorable planting conditions may lift Brazil’s output to a record 65 million tons, adding to the highest ever harvest in the U.S., the department said. The U.S. is the world’s biggest exporter. “We need another disaster like Argentina had with its soybean crop before they cut into the ending stocks,” McKay said. “Not that I’m wishing that on anyone.” Argentina’s soybean production plunged to 32 million tons last year, from 46.2 million tons a year earlier, as drought curbed yields. Production in the world’s third-largest exporter of the oilseed may rebound to 53 million tons this year, according to a Department of Agriculture’s forecast. To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net.

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